Harry the House Elf
by GrizzlyBiscuit
Summary: The Boy who Lived had something else happen to him the very night of Lily and James death, something horrible
1. Chapter 1

**Konichiwa, I am Grizzlybiscuit, and I'm about to violate your preconceptions on Harry Potter.**

**This is something I need to write after reading and reading and reading Harry Potter Fanfic's, because the question born in my head was... If James Potter was as Pure Bred as everyone seems to claim him to be, where the heck was his house elf? It pretty much is something taken for granted, but honestly, every pure blood family, save the Weasleys, seems to have a house elf. What if James did have a house elf? What if it was there too when Lily and James died? What if...**

**Disclaimer: sorry to offend you, J. K., but I know for a fact I don't own Harry Boy-who-made-you-Millions Potter.**

* * *

"James." The nervous voice of his wife drew his attention from the doorway where the wards were beginning to tremble against the magical pressure being forced against them.

"Go to Harry, Lily." James said firmly, wand drawn and ready for the imminent attack about to destroy their happy home. "Samhein!" James barked, his voice covering the brief popping sound as a little house elf dressed in livery clothing looked up at him. "Go with Lily and protect her!"

"James! We need to run!" Lily begged from the stairs. "When the wards drop..."

"If we run, Harry will die!" James looked longingly at his wife. "He's too young to be exposed to magic, and Apparating will destroy his fragile core." His heart was breaking, but he had to stay strong for his wife. "When the wards drop, take Harry and run away. I'll hold them off as long as I can." She hesitated on the stairs as the sound of glass cracking punctuated the brief silence. "Go, Lily!"

She rushed upwards toward the baby room, passing rune after ward after protection from magic. Sleeping in his crib, a young child slept peacefully onward, unaware as to the fate that was to come true around him. She had just enough time to stroke her child's cheek when the wards broke, the sound of glass breaking echoed through the house before the house shook from the sudden explosion of magical power thrown at the downstairs door. The sound of the front door breaking inward and shouted spellcasting lasted briefly before dreadful silence cut off any chance of an escape.

"Samhein!" Lily hissed, and the sole elf of the Potter family popped into existence on the head of the crib frame. "Take Harry and run away!"

"Sammy will not run!" The little house elf looked livid, eyes burning with its own peculiar kind of magic. "Sammy will protect Lily Potter ma'am and Harry Potter sir!"

"Sam, you can't defeat him!" The sounds of feet on the stairs had her look over her shoulder before she looked pleadingly at the house elf. "He's too powerful for anyone! Please, take my son and get away!"

"Thinking of leaving, Lily?" The sound of a human turned into something inhuman called behind her. She turned and blocked her son from the cloak shrouded form, but it could only be one person. "I'm offended. All I wanted to do was offer you a chance to join me..."

Lily drew her wand with speed borne of something otherworldly. She kept the point turned toward the shrouded form, a snarl on her lips. "You may have killed James, and you may kill me, but you will not take my son!"

The form seemed to stand a little taller than what it had, straightening to an unnatural height in front of her. "No one will oppose me." the voice hissed. "Not you, not your family, not even a prophesy not yet fulfilled! Dumbledore's hopes will die with your child!"

"You will not hurt Lily Potter!" the screechy voice of Samhein bellowed as a green blast ripped toward Lily even as she turned and tried to cast a protection on her son that would save him from the killing curse. Green light met violet as elf magic join the two and the top of the house blew upward, ripping away the roof as a shout of disembodied anger faded away.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore watched as several of the Order searched the ruins that had been the Potter household. The front door, frame, and at least a foot of stone had been blasted inward, broken frame and gravel still scattered around the living area where what must have been James' remains laid. Dumbledore could have only hoped that the young adult, just turned father, had been dead before being destroyed in such a way. Mercy was not Voldemort's way...

They were still combing the bottom floor, and Moody had only now just headed upstairs to see if he could find what was left of Lily and poor young Harry, only a year old. He wished he could curse himself for what had occurred tonight, but knew that there would be so many more chances to blame himself. After all, it was he who...

"Albus." Moody's voice called from the wreckage of the second floor, where the baby's room would have been. "You need to see this."

Sighing sadly, he made his way passed Arthur Weasley, patting the red headed man on the shoulder and giving him a brief twinkling smile before heading upstairs. His Order of the Phoenix, the people who had volunteered to oppose the evil of one man and his followers, were tired. Having just come from finding Frank and Alice Longbottom cursed out of their minds had affected all of them, and only Merlin knew if they'd ever regain any kind of coherence ever again. This war had gone on too long, and it didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon.

"Over here." Moody called from where he stood, kicking at something on the floor. Albus joined him peering down at the tattered remains of a robe.

Summoning the wand nearby up into his hand, Albus pulled his own wand free from his robes before casting Priori Incantatem on the found wand. Green smoke curled out of the tip of the wand, forming into a sickly skull over and over again, sometimes interspersed with the red webbing of an empowered Cruciatus. Cutting off the Priori Incantatem, Albus pocketed the wand. "Who do you think it was?" Albus asked wearily.

"There's more." Moody muttered as he stepped away from the discarded robe and came over to a barely distinguishable body.

Albus winced at what could only be the remains of Lily Potter, roof and timber obscuring part of her, the crushed crib laying next to her. "I am so sorry, Lily, James." Albus spoke weakly, bowing his head. It looked as if there would be no Light to stop the shadow of...

"You will not hurt Harry Potter!" the tiny body of a house elf threw itself from under the wreckage of the crib, bleeding from a scalp wound, one eye gouged from its socket as its fingers clawed toward Albus's face.

The Stupefy that knocked the house elf out of the air only made it send its attention back toward Moody, who's spell casting had saved Albus from a maiming. The house elf's own Stupefy blasted Moody from the damaged room and down the stairwell, his peg leg having been knocked off with force.

"You's is to stay away from Harry Potter sir! Sammy will not let's you hurts Harry Potter Sir!" The house elf bellowed, hands clenching and unclenching in agitation.

"Samhein?" Albus spoke in confusion as he looked down at the body of Lily. "Where is Harry, Sam?"

The one eye in the house elf's head grew larger as it bared its teeth. "You's is not touching Harry Potter Sir! Sammy will not allow you!" The Incarcerous that hit the lunging house elf dropped it hard on the ground where it struggled to break the chains surrounding it. Moody had returned up the stairs, holding onto pieces of the banister as both he and Arthur kept their wands pointed at the quite mad house elf.

"What the bloody hell is with that house elf?" Moody growled as Arthur helped the ex-Auror over to his leg.

Using a quick succession of spells, the wreckage of the crib was pulled away, leaving a barely shimmering protective dome around a baby who was crying, its voice unheard behind the barrier to hide it from anyone looking for it. Blood leaked from a jagged lightning bolt scar on its forehead as it continued to cry out, looking for comfort that wasn't coming.

"Harry..." Albus sighed weakly as he dispelled the barrier with a quickly cast Finite before picking up the quite vocal boy. He used a handkerchief in his pocket before wiping at the bloodied head of baby Harry.

"RELEASE HARRY POTTER!" Samhein struggled with everything he had, throwing his elf magic at the bindings holding him down.

"Arthur, Moody." Albus looked over at his companions, ignoring the sounds of the angry house elf. "Please take Sam here to Hogwarts. The house elves there should be able to do something for him. While there, I need one of you to send for Hagrid to come get young Harry here."

* * *

"Has anyone heard from Sirius?" McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, asked. Her lips were locked in disapproval that the Godfather of James and Lily's son had taken it upon himself to hunt down the Secret Keeper that had given up and ultimately led to the deaths of the married couple. They had yet to tell him about Harry's survival.

The tall black frame of Kingsley Shacklebolt nodded. "The Auror's picked him up about an hour ago." His bald head nodded, though his face held a firm frown. "They say he went mad in the street. Killed some twelve muggle bystanders and nearly completely destroyed Peter Pettigrew. All they found was the man's pinky."

Her prim expression shifted to her very disapproving glare that could make even the smallest feeling of guilt well up in you and want to tell her the truth, whether she had asked for it or not. Her square framed glasses only made the disapproval all the worse. With her hair tied back in a bun that looked to be some self imposed torture, Minerva could make the hardest person squirm.

She shifted her emerald green robes self consciously as she waited around the table in the study with the other members. She didn't have long to wait as Albus Dumbledore opened the door and allowed the giant of a man that was Rubeus Hagrid in first, his massive hands carefully cradling the basket that held the baby Potter inside of it before Albus followed him in and took an open place around the table.

His white beard looked haggard, his eyes even worse so as he spoke to those gathered around. "I'm afraid that we must talk about something very important before talking about the young Harry Potter." Waiting for the few objections to die down, Albus waved his hand for a little patience. "I know that nothing is more important that the young charge, but I'm afraid that this is more pressing."

Molly Weasley, showing the signs of her pregnancy, spoke up. "What could be more important than poor little Harry's safety?"

Albus nodded to the matron of the Weasley Family before speaking. "If you have not heard by now, Sirius Black, our supposed friend, has been arrested for breaches in the law and for the murder of several muggles and one Peter Pettigrew." Several mutters were heard around the table before Albus spoke overtop of them, gaining their silence. "It has just been discovered that not only has Sirius Black done these things, but that he was apparently the Secret Keeper for Lily and James as well."

"Lies!" A sallow man shouted from the corner of the room, barging his way up to the table. His skinny frame looking as if he nothing but skin and bones. "Sirius Loved James and Lily like his own family! He'd never...!"

"Remus." Albus acknowledged the young cursed man, cutting into his rant. "I'm afraid that it has to be true. Only Sirius and Peter were the ones considered to be Lily and James Secret Keeper for where they were living. You know this as a certainty due to your association to all of them."

"But it couldn't have been Sirius!" Remus demanded once again, his fist pounding on the table in frustration.

"I'm afraid that the condemning proof is that of the now deceased Mr. Pettigrew." Albus spoke again, gaining everyone's undivided attention. "Several witnesses, before being Obliviated, testified that Sirius gave up Lily and James to the Death Eaters before being destroyed."

Remus Lupin looked to everyone in the room before cursing under his breath, seeing the looks given to him. They believed Dumbledore, rather than someone who had been the closest thing to a relation for Sirius. He'd never convince them, not now with the evidence stacked against them.

"Because of this, it now falls to a closer family member to take up the raising of Harry Potter." Albus said as he watched everyone digest this little bit of information.

"James doesn't have any relatives left." Remus darkly announced, looking up at Albus accusingly. "And I can't be Harry's Godfather. He has to go to someone else."

"I'll do it." Molly jumped in immediately, standing proudly before the Order. "We may not be well off, but there's not a better well loved family in all of Ottery St. Catchpole or anywhere else."

"Molly, Love." Arthur tried to rein in his wife, but only received a wicked glare from her.

"I'm afraid, Molly," Albus interrupted the tongue lashing her spouse was about to receive, sparing the poor man from his hormonally driven wife, "That Harry does have familial relations still alive." Confused looks passed around the table, though McGonagall's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "He has an aunt and an uncle still very much alive that will take care of him until he is old enough to rejoin the magical world."

McGonagall's eyes turned to lethal weapons while many of the people around the table gasped in shock.

"You'd put Harry with...muggles?" It wasn't sure who said it first, but the question echoed from several different voices.

"Harry will need to grow up with family, to know what love is." Albus defended his decision. "He must know where he comes from, even if it is through his aunt."

"But...muggles?" Edgar Bones asked skeptically, eying the boy child in Hagrid's hands.

"Not only must he learn about his origins," Albus began, wishing there was some other way, "Lily's last act in protecting her child has put a powerful protective charm on the child." Everyone's eyes were drawn to the child. "We're not exactly sure as to how Harry still has an intact core at so young, but we do know that whatever reaction the Killing Curse had with Lily's last desperate act caused some powerful spells to be brought over young Harry. These spells can only be charged by being with his family, specifically under their loving care."

"Albus, a word, if you don't mind." Minerva asked before heading for a side door into a private study. She didn't look over she shoulder at Albus. She had little doubt he'd follow, or she would make it very difficult for the Headmaster. As the door closed behind her, she snapped her wand out at the door, placing several charms on the door preventing sound to be heard and locking it. "Are you daft, you old fool?!?"

"I assure you, Minerva, this is very important for Harry." Albus tried to give her a smile to assuage her anger. It did nothing but turn her rage up even more.

"Important for who, Albus?" Minerva demanded, pinning him uncomfortably in place with her gaze. "He should be raised by his own people, by wizards and witches like him!"

"If I could change the protections, I would, Minerva." Albus sighed as he slumped in place. "We truly don't understand why the protections leapt into place around her sister's house, but it is a moot point as they are there and they cannot be changed by anyone."

"What of Samhein?" McGonagall asked, continuing to pin Albus in place with her gaze.

"The house elves of Hogwarts tell me that the poor thing is dying." He shook his head at the loss of another life to the dark forces. "They're trying to do what they can to keep the damage he does under containment, but I'm afraid that it will be a long time dying. From what we can tell, it was grazed with the Killing Curse, preventing a full attack from reaching Harry. It is very possible that it saved the child from death as much as Lily's ward did."

Minerva frowned at Albus before nodding abruptly. "It will not be at Hogwarts during the school year, is that clear, Albus?"

"Of course, Minerva..."

* * *

Four years had passed after that day. The announcement of Voldemort's wand being found at the scene with his robes was enough to send the Death Eaters into hiding, many being found by the Order members or by the Auror's, who then placed them on trial and had them imprisoned in the only prison that worked, Azkaban.

In number 12 Grimmauld, Fate decided to intervene once again in the form of a psychotic, maimed house elf.

Kreacher couldn't deal with the scarred elf that spoke of the person called Harry Potter anymore. The annoying old man, Dumbledore, had dropped off in the honorable Black House the destructive elf every year like clockwork. Wen the kids were to attend school, Samhein would be left in the now hollow house of Black, only to be taken back to Hogwarts at the end of the school year. Kreacher wouldn't stand for it, not anymore. Lady Black's picture didn't like the house elf, she had wanted it gone from her house, that she did. Kreacher would make the dying elf go away.

"Where is Harry Potter?!? Sam must protect Harry Potter!" the frantic house elf shouted rasping at the top of its lungs, porting through the house via elf magic as it searched high and low for the non existent boy.

"Kreacher knows of Harry Potter. Yup, yup, y..urk!" Kreacher soon found it hard to speak with the insane elf's grip around it's neck, ringing him like a bell.

"Tell Sammy Where Harry Potter Sir Is!!!" Samhein shouted as loud as it could, spit flying everywhere as he continued to throttle the Black family elf.

"Kreacher...urk..." spots were forming in Kreacher's eyes. "Kreacher...heard...Dumble man...say..." he needed to get the last words out before he passed out, or Lady Black would be upset with him. "Dursley...House...GASP!" A thunderous crack at ground zero threw Kreacher backwards into a wall, where he thankfully passed out when Samhein used his waning magic to break Dumbledore's spells on him to prevent him from finding Harry.

Samhein appeared in the street at just barely sundown, making him look like some disheveled hairless cat with rags for fur. Peering at the house, he couldn't feel the link of the Potter house to this place, and he was beginning to twitch in the street, a mumble starting on his lips as he worked himself into a frenzy.

When the front door opened, followed by the body of a five year old boy being thrown out into the lawn, Samhein froze as the child passed some kind of barrier, and the bond to the new head of the Potter's snapped into being.

"You little freak!" The heavy body of Vernon Dursley stepped into the open doorway, staring with malice at the child that looked as if it was stunned where it laid. "I said there will be none of that in my house, or you'll sleep on the street and by thunder, I meant it!"

"You will Not Hurt Harry Potter!" Sam shouted, elf magic rippling off him and toward the Dursley's house. Vernon had only a brief moment to wonder who had shouted before he was blasted into his house, the doorway and a good part of the Dursley's house blasting backwards into the house after Vernon.

Harry moaned from where he laid, his head spinning and his eyes watering in pain. It felt like his arm was broken, but he didn't want to see if it was or not. He felt someone picking him up carefully, before there was a displacement, and the overwhelming smell of the dust underneath the stairs. He was back in his 'home', the same place that the Dursley's had moved him into when he had gotten too old to be in a crib anymore.

"Harry Potter Sir has nothing to be worried about now." A raspy voice spoke to him, and he wished it didn't hurt enough for him to keep his eyes closed, but he just couldn't look. "Sam will make it better, you will see. Sam won't lets anyone hurts Harry Potter anymore."

* * *

A few hours later, several dozen if not more Obliviations, and one strong Reparo fixed the accidental magic at number 4 privet drive. During their investigations for any other accidental magic that may have happened, they found one unconscious Harry Potter hiding in the cupboard under the stairs, the dead body of a maimed house elf laying protectively over top of him, as if determined to make sure that nothing would hurt Harry.

The circumstances were strange enough to earn the attention of one Amelia Bones, head Auror of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "This had better be worth my time." Said the young woman who had just taken the position of Head of the DMLE, her close cropped brown hair made her look imposing. "I have a department to run."

"It's this, Ma'am." One of the Obliviators from the Ministry said as he pointed down at the cupboard under the stairs.

Moving to peer into the cupboard, a quickly muttered Lumos lit the small room, giving her a disturbing sight. "Is that the Boy-who-Lived?" She growled hotly as she pulled her head out from the cupboard. "What the hell happened here?"

"We're not exactly sure, Ma'am. This is normally a pretty quiet muggle street for all accounts." The Obliviator shrugged as he looked back down into the cupboard. "When we found the boy with inside, there was a dead house elf draped across him, almost as if it was defending him from something, or someone."

"Was there an attack then? Why wasn't my department notified of an attack by Death Eaters?" Someone dropped the ball on this, and she was going to have someone's head.

"We don't think it was Death Eaters, Ma'am." A second Obliviator came up from behind, a slightly older and more seasoned member. "From the looks of it, the house elf did it all. Probably took some offense from something. What we can tell is that the elf didn't die from natural means. It looks as if it's life was being drained from it for a long time before it finally gave up the ghost, as it were."

"Some kind of sacrifice, maybe?" Amelia eyed the entrance to the cupboard, wondering if the Boy-who-Lived was being targeted by some of the old hold ons from Voldemort's time.

"Too hard to say, Ma'am." The younger of the two said, shrugging. "Whatever the elf saw in this kid, we'll never know now."

Amelia didn't believe in coincidences. "I want a full work up of this scene, everything that you've come across, anything you heard while conducting your duties, even a complete workup on who's elf and where it came from." Amelia turned to head out of the house before turning back to the two Obliviators. "Keep the Prophet out of this, they'd have a field day if they found out who that boy was."

* * *

Harry was even stranger afterwards, yet the magical world would not find out until later.

Petunia had begun to enlist Harry into weeding her garden and taking care of her plants for her, not having the time to do it herself, even though she didn't seem to do much around the house anyways. After only an hour of working out in her backyard garden, Harry had come back in claiming to have completed her garden as she wanted, though he didn't seem to have a speck of dirt on him.

Upset at the obvious lie, she took him out back to her garden once again, only to be shocked at the stacked, tied off, and waiting to be discarded pile of weeds that had been bundled to the side. Wondering where Harry had gotten the thread from that had tied the bundle up, harry had shrugged, mentioning needing something to tie it off with, and having the urge to reach into his pocket.

She wondered about that, telling him to clean the living room and prepare it for guests, then stood back and watched as Harry seemed to flit around the living room, dining room, hallway, and kitchen as he cleaned and prepared a small repast for any guests that would arrive. No guests ever did show up, but the snacks he had made didn't go to waste when Dudley came home from playing with his friends and when her husband came home.

Even stranger was the fact that Harry always seemed to find a way to repair stuff that was nearly falling apart around the house, whether it was wood or metal didn't matter. The more disturbing part was how Harry began to address himself in the third person, but not by his name. A muttered comment about Freak had Harry sticking his head around a corner that she was sure had been unoccupied previously, earning a disgusted comment from Vernon and an order to head to his room unless needed.

Even Dudley had seemed to pick up on the change in Harry as he began to tell 'Freak' that he was hungry and to bring him something to eat. No matter what Dudley asked for, Harry always seemed to find a way to bring it to the boy, even going so far as to overfeed him, which earned the wrath of Vernon for "Trying to kill my Dudders".

Harry didn't cry out, didn't beg for mercy from the thrashing he got, but would always ask afterwards once Vernon had finished 'educating' Harry if Freak had been punished enough. As Harry aged more, Vernon began to take more and more of his anger out on her nephew, and the boy never said a word. The smile after the beatings disturbed her even worse than the silence he gave through the thrashings.

She began to suspect that Harry was using magic when she watched him in the garden. Her roses were about ready to bloom when she watched him wrap his fingers around a rose stem and straighten the flower upwards without disturbing the bed or cutting his hand up. There had even been a moment where a garden snake had nearly scared her to death when it had slithered over her foot. Harry picked it up in his hands and hissed at it for a few moments before putting it down and sending it on his way.

She didn't have any way of contacting that world. Muggles weren't supposed to know about the world of magic, though she was the sister of a witch. Well, a dead witch, but Lily had been her sister.

Vernon refused to send Harry to school, her protests doing nothing but making Vernon angrier at the prospects. Having to pay for his glasses, which had become damaged that very day after buying them had made him mad, but paying for an education for the 'Freak'? Vernon had finally been allowed Harry to go to school only if he promised that he wouldn't cause any trouble.

The call she got from Harry's school the very first day made her wince. She had gone in, secretly so that Vernon would never know about what it pertained to, and wished she had simply never enrolled Harry in the first place. The counselors were demanding to know what kind of sweatshop she was running out of her house, and why Harry kept referring to himself as Freak in class? Then, when no one would punish him for something that obviously distressed the teachers when he assumed he had done something wrong, Harry had begun to 'discipline' himself.

Petunia couldn't tell them anything to defend herself or her family, the evidence was too incriminating. Harry sat there smiling happily as the Principal and the counselor told her that they were going to take her children away legally from her so that they could be raised in a healthy house, and then Harry frowned at them.

"You will not hurt Mrs. Dursley..." Harry threatened before a white light went off out of nowhere. Both the Principal and the counselor sat dazed for a moment before asking Petunia if she was going to be enrolling her child into their school, to which she could only blink at them.

She found out quickly that their memories had been altered and made her excuses that she had to take her child home, since her other son would be coming home soon himself. Leaving the school behind, she never sent Harry back, but instead decided to try and home tutor him to be able to read and write, which was much harder than she ever considered.

As the years moved forward, things steadily changed for Harry. When Dudley would get into trouble, Vernon would praise his son, and beat Harry for leading by example, even though Harry had little or nothing to do with Dudley's activities. Petunia continued to help Harry out as much has she could until he could read well enough before directing him to read on his own. She had to test him now and then to make sure that he remembered everything he read, but that was the easy part. The hard part was hiding the evidence from her husband.

Nearly Ten years had passed to the day when the next big change in Harry's life occurred in the form of a letter addressed to him. His nature, having changed from the once innocent 5 year old he had been, now had him up before the sun preparing breakfast for the Dursley family. He made sure that all of last nights dishes had been washed up and any midnight munching had been taken care of before cooking the bacon, eggs, and toast that was the morning fare of the household.

Heading for the front door to begin the cleaning and dusting, he noticed a letter sitting on the inside of the doorway, dropped obviously from the mail slot in the door to the floor. Taking the letter without looking at it, Harry took it in to the kitchen table and placed it in front of Vernon's seat.

The house awoke normally for a lazy work week. Petunia came down first, checking on Harry and making sure breakfast was finished before heading off for a shower to clean herself of last night's sleeping. Vernon was up next, heading to the kitchen table to put some food into his stomach first before going to bathe. He never even noticed the letter until his son arrived for breakfast, which was nearly time for Vernon to be heading to work.

"What's all this?" Vernon asked as he picked the letter up in his fingers, his wife just now sitting down to the table, freshly washed. "Harry Potter? Number 4 Privet Drive? Cupboard under the stairs?!?"

All eyes turned to an oblivious Harry as he washed dishes in the sink.

"Freak!" Vernon bellowed, his face starting to shade into purple has his blood pressure rose.

"Yes, Mr. Dursley Sir?" Harry turned around, dropping everything he was doing to face his uncle with a smile.

"What's all this?" Vernon demanded, shaking the letter in Harry's direction.

"Freak believes it is a letter, sir!" Harry said happily, getting the answer right.

"I can see it's a letter, you half wit!" Vernon snarled as he threw the letter in Harry's direction, the angle terrible as it began to twist in the air before landing in front of Harry face up, though turned upside down. "What's it doing addressed specifically to your room?"

Harry looked down at the letter, reading over the words with their fancy script like writing. True, it was addressed to his room, but was it really for him? Only Mrs. Dursley ever addressed him as Harry. Maybe it was a mistake?

"I don't know, Sir. Should Freak find out who sent it?" Harry asked curiously, looking to Vernon for answers.

"Absolutely not!" Vernon planted his fist on the tabletop, making crockery dance with its impact. "If any more of these letters come here, you are to throw them away unopened. Is that understood?"

"Freak will be happy to make sure they are disposed of, Mr. Dursley Sir." Harry said, picking up the letter and taking it to the garbage bin before tossing it away. "Will there be anything else, Mr. Dursley Sir?" Harry asked, even as Vernon got up from the table and headed for the front door.

"Do your chores, and make sure the house is prepared for Dudley's birthday tomorrow." Vernon huffed as he slid his business jacket on. "I'll deal with you once I get home."

"Yes, Mr. Dursley Sir." Harry spoke happily as he went back to the dishes, claiming Vernon's plate and silverware from the table before beginning the second helping for breakfast as Dudley was eating away happily. His girth was quickly catching up to his father day by day.

Petunia ate hers slower, watching Harry happily work away around the kitchen before moving into the living room, leaving her and her son to finish breakfast. Once Dudley had finished his morning meal, she waited until her son left to go change his clothes before heading over to the garbage can and taking the letter out. Opening the letter, she carefully read the stylized script before cursing to herself. She was supposed to send her correspondence back for Harry, but how could she do that when there was no return address?

"Idiots." Petunia muttered, before tossing the letter into the garbage.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, stood at his windowsill, looking out over the grounds that were the school property, watching for the one singular owl that would be winging its way to him to inform him that the young Harry Potter would be attending this year. It had been so long since anyone had seen him, he wondered how young Harry was doing?

He had the strangest feeling that he had forgotten something important when sending Harry's acceptance letter, something that slipped his mind in his excitement. Shrugging, he plopped a lemon drop into his mouth as he hummed in delight. Whatever it was, it couldn't be as important as receiving Harry's letter.

* * *

A week went by before the strangeness began occurring. More letters began to arrive, starting with a few extras all addressed out to Harry's room under the stairs, then more and more started to arrive. Vernon refused to open any of the letters, instead he had Harry nail a board over top of the mail slot to prevent any more letters inside the house. It didn't help as the letters instead came down the chimney the next morning, flooding the living room with their numbers.

Unable to nail the furnace shut without something looking odd, Vernon burned each letter individually with Harry's help, while Petunia kept one hidden in her pocket. As soon as Vernon was assured that there were no more letters to be had in the house, he took the bank register and began calculating costs. "Need to go somewhere where they can't find us." Vernon kept muttering under his breath, rapidly going over figures at the kitchen table while his family continued to watch. Harry, being the dutiful one, shoveled up the ashes and began to bag them for fertilizer.

"Freak!" Vernon called, making Harry stop where he stood. "Pack some clothes for all of us! We'll be leaving for a few days!"

"Yes, Mr. Dursley sir!" Harry tied off the half full bag and headed upstairs as fast as he could, heading for Vernon and Petunia's bedroom first.

"Dear, are you sure about this?" Petunia asked, getting a bad feeling in the bottom of her stomach.

"We promised when we got him, dear." Vernon kissed her cheek as he headed for the doorway. "We'd keep the freakishness from him, or beat it out of him."

* * *

"Albus, I swear to Morgana you're going soft in the head." Minerva McGonagall muttered as she stood on the doorstep of Hogwarts, watching and listening to Dumbledore giving instructions to the half giant of a man, Hagrid, as he sat astride his magic aided bike with side car.

"Now, remember, Hagrid." Albus was giving the smiling visage his last bit of directions. "If they give you any trouble, please don't use magic on them. Just try to convince Harry to come to school with you."

"Don't worry, Headmaster." Hagrid responded happily as he patted his pocket. "I'll make sure Harry gets his letter, that I will." He frowned for a moment before leaning conspiratorially down to Albus and whispered behind his hand, though his voice carried over to Minerva clear as day. "Yeh don't mind that I stop off at Diagon Alley and get young Harry a cake, do yeh?"

"But, of course, you may." Albus happily answered, reaching into his own pockets to hand over some coins of various colors. "I ask only that you don't have the cake marked in any specific way that would annouce who it is for and where you may be going with it."

"Thank yeh, Headmaster." Hagrid started the bike with a kick, getting the engine to turn over with little effort before donning his glasses to protect his eyes. "I'll be returnin with young Harry, just yeh watch!"

Hagrid began riding down the drive and into the night before the light came on in front of the bike, then it started to rise into the sky, heading off to deliver the letter.

"Do you think it's safe to allow Hagrid to do this alone, Albus?" Minerva had her arms crossed in front of herself, tapping her foot on the upper step.

"I assure you, Minerva." Albus smiled brightly at his Transfigurations Professor. "It could be no safer than in Hagrid's."

* * *

"Green icing, you said?" the pastry chef asked as he began to choose the icing for the simple cake.

"Yeah, and can yeh put on it Happy Birthday Harry?" Hagrid's grin nearly split his bearded face in two, only to realize a moment later that he had said Harry's name. "I shouldn't ah said that..."

* * *

They had debated staying at a hotel off the major highways leading out of the city, but one look at Harry had Vernon heading directly for the nearest coastline and finding an old man with a run down shack in the middle of nowhere on a piece of rock barely big enough to be called an island. Vernon hd everyone hustled up and into a boat out to the little building before Dudley could complain more than once.

Harry had their suitcases deposited in their rooms before long, and a fire going in the barely stable fireplace in the three room, rickety shack. The bathroom had already been found to be an outhouse behind the run down place, and was falling apart more than the house was. Pieces of glass were missing from the panes as if knocked out by small stones, but Vernon treated the place as if it was a five star hotel. It almost looked like the large man was dancing some kind of jig.

"Harry?" Petunia called to her nephew, motioning him over to her. "are you going to be alright sleeping out here by yourself?"

"Yes, Mrs. Dursley Ma'am." Harry nodded with a bright smile. "Freak will be just fine sleeping out here."

Petunia frowned looking down at Harry before coming to a decision. "Harry," she bit her lip as she glanced over at her husband, "if someone comes looking for you, I want you to go with them. Your Uncle will probably shout and deny a lot of things in your presence, but you must go with them, especially if they say they are from a place called Hogwarts. Do you understand, Harry?"

"Has Freak done something wrong?" Harry looked like he was beginning to tear up, his lip trembling.

"No, Harry..." Petunia was cut off by hr Husband.

"Freak, Get some rations out of one of the cases!" Vernon ordered, still in the process of his weird victory dance.

"Yes, Mr. Dursley Sir!" Harry bolted off to the suitcases, looking for the food while Petunia stared off after him.

* * *

The knocking on the front door woke everyone in the shack.

Running out of the bedroom in his nightshirt and boxers came Vernon Dursley, holding a very old looking rifle that hadn't seen better days. Dust still covered the stock and the barrel as he held it in front of him like some form of protection.

"Go away!" Vernon shouted at the door. "We don't want anything that you're selling."

Dudley stuck his head out from the bedroom, looking at his father while Petunia stood in her bedroom doorway, a full body bathrobe wrapped around her.

He knocking became stronger, bouncing the door in its frame.

"I have a gun, I will use it on you freaks!" Vernon shouted at the door, unmindful of Harry suddenly moving passed him to the doorway and unlocking the door.

"Excuse me, Sir, but Mr. Dursley has asked for you to please go away." Harry had opened the door a little and stuck his head out to address whoever was outside in the pouring rain.

"Are you Harry Potter?" a loud, gruff voice asked from the other side of the door.

"Sorry, Sir, Freak is Freak." Harry said before closing the door on whoever was on the other side. He locked the door afterwards and walked back over to his corner of the room where he had laid out a blanket for himself. Vernon's eye twitched as his nerves found the sudden unreality of Harry speaking to whoever was on the other side as if they were some common person and then closing the door in their face was normal. Maybe he'd been a bit too rough on the kid?

The door echoed with a rough shot and broke from the frame to fall inward toward Vernon, who yelped and jumped behind the nearest thing he could, which was the ratty couch in the middle of the room. Standing in the doorway was the frame of a huge man, his body obscuring the weather behind him as he closed a very large parasol and shook it for good measure.

Stepping into the house, his scraggly beard and black hair spread out all over the place, looking like some bush with black beetle eyes had taken possession of some monster of a man and animated what was left. He was clothed in the pelts of various animals, some that looked to have been skinned without being properly tanned or having the heads removed from them.

Looking around the room, his eyes came to rest on Vernon hiding behind the couch. "Are yeh Vernon Dursley?"

"Freak!" Vernon shouted as he placed the gun to his shoulder, resting the barrel along the back of the couch.

"Yes, Mr. Dursley Sir?" Harry's answer next to his ear made the poor man jump, throwing his aim off badly. Even if his aim had been better, the puff of smoke coming from the barrel itself proved how old the bullets were as the powder sizzled away to nothing.

The giant man took the gun from Vernon without much trouble, quickly tied it into a pretzel, and discarded it into a corner of the room. "We'll be havin none of that now." Moving over close to the fireplace, the large man sat himself down and fanned his furs out to dry in front of the fireplace. "May I have some tea, please? Would do with a spot of something stronger, if yeh have it..."

Harry was on his feet and bringing a thermos over to Hagrid before anyone could blink. Taking the top off, he poured the large man the warm drink and offered it to him. "Thank ye kindly, Harry."

"Get out!" Vernon recovered from his fright and stood behind the couch, pointing back out the open doorway.

"Shut yer piehole, Dursley." The large man harrumphed from in front of the fireplace, not intimidated in the least bit, quickly ignoring the man once gain. "How are ya, Harry? Have they treated yeh well?"

"Excuse me, sir," Harry spoke, tilting his head to the side as he peered up into the face of the great man, "but it is rude to speak of someone without introducing yourself first."

"ah, yer right about that, Harry." The large man scratched at the back of his head sheepishly. "Where are my manners? My name is Rebeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

Harry blinked before looking at Petunia Dursley, who nodded slowly to him. Turning to Hagrid, harry asked, "Are you to take Freak to Hogwarts, Sir?"

"Well, not directly to Hogwarts." Hagrid took out the a scroll with a list of items on it, handing the letter to Harry before opening the scroll. "I have to take you to the Leaky Cauldron first so we can get you yer school supplies."

Hagrid was reaching into his pocket for the cake he had stopped off to get the boy as Vernon gained up enough steam to try again. "You will not take him and turn him into..."

"Into what?" Hagrid asked, turning a fuming glare at Vernon that had the man sputtering. "He's already a wizard. Ain't nothin more natural than being yerself, now is there? Here, Harry. Happy Birthday."

Harry opened the box, showing the half squashed birthday cake with his name written on it, the rest of the words were smeared across the top lid of the box.

"Ah, while we're at it." Hagrid said as he pulled out a small bit of parchment. "Need to get yer acceptance letter out to the Headmaster." Hagrid looked over at Harry quizzically. "Why did yeh never send a reply back?"

"It may have something to do with not having a return address, or whatever it is your kind uses for mail transport." Petunia commented dryly from the bedroom door, having returned after dressing herself in something more appropriate to receive guests in.

"All yeh had to do was return the reply on the owl that brought the letter." Hagrid spoke bluntly, staring at her as if she was an idiot.

"We're muggles." Petunia crossed her arms in front of herself. "Where do you suggest we find an owl? In addition," she pulled out one letter from Hogwarts, showing Hagrid that it had been opened, "we have mail slots that our mail gets delivered into. Owls aren't big enough to fit through those, so we never saw one."

Seconds passed as Hagrid considered this. You could almost hear something clicking when Hagrid's head seemed to jerk slightly. "Is that why yeh never sent a reply?" Petunia stared at Hagrid as the large man scratched the back of his head. Clearing his throat, Harry watched as the large man stood back up, taking the lid from him and capping of the thermos. "In any event, I'll just write out yer acceptance to the letter, and we'll be on our way..."

Harry went to deny his acceptance, when Petunia placed her hand on his shoulder. Looking up at Mrs. Dursley, she nodded to him and pushed him toward his clothing, missing the fact that Hagrid pulled from another pocket an owl. Not just a stuffed owl, but an actual living owl. The note was written quickly and handed over to the slightly ruffled barn own when it took it in its beak and flew out the doorway of the rickety shack.

"Freak is ready to go, Hagrid Sir." Harry had put the thermos away in his suitcase and looked up at the large man as he stood up, forgetting the cake that Hagrid had brought him.

"ah, yeh won't be needing the suitcase, Harry." Hagrid smiled weakly at him, scratching weakly at the back of his head. "If yer family could take it back with them, we'll be getting yeh some proper wizarding clothes for the school year."

Tilting his head to the side, Harry placed his suitcase on the ground beside him before walking over to the large man and taking his pinky into his hand. Giving the Dursley's a hard glare, and making sure that Vernon didn't say anything more that might upset him, Hagrid took Harry outside and opened his umbrella for the both of them. Helping Harry into the sidecar of his motorcycle, Hagrid kicked started the machine to life before handing Harry the umbrella and driving off into the storm.

* * *

They landed in front of a nondescript building looking like it was in need of a thorough cleaning. Harry's hand jerked faintly as if he felt the urge from all the time he had spent in the Dursley's shack that they had rented to get out of the vehicle and find a washrag, or a toothbrush.

"Here, we are, Harry. Mind yer feet." Hagrid said as he hit the kill switch on the bike, shutting the engine off once they had come to a complete stop.

Harry looked up and down the street, not finding anyone out at this hour, and wondering why they had come here. Turning to look at the large man, he waited until Hagrid had gotten off the motor bike and walked around to offer his finger to Harry once again. Heading into the Leaky Cauldron a few people were balanced over their tabletops as they walked past the common room, heading to what appeared to be a hallway leading to the rear of the building.

"Morning Tom." Hagrid greeted the barkeep, who was polishing the glass in his hand as all bartenders seemed to do.

"Hagrid." Tom greeted him, the black haired, well kept barkeep called to them, slowing Hagrid down. "You don't normally come down to the Cauldron, specially with a kid. Is he yours?" The barkeep grinned as Hagrid looked to have swallowed something the wrong way.

"Of course, he isn't." Hagrid gestured to Harry standing beside him. "This here is a student who we was having trouble talking to in the muggle world. Headmaster Dumbledore sent me to go find little Harry here." He smiled down at the boy as the barkeep stopped what he was doing.

"Did you say Harry?" Tom asked, as some of the people at their tables looked up from where they were sitting. "That wouldn't happen to be Harry Potter, would it?"

Hagrid's eyes seemed to widen slightly. "Er...I wasn't supposed to say that." Hagrid looked around the bar before leaning down and whispering loudly to Tom. "Don't mention yeh saw him here, would yeh?"

Tom blinked at Hagrid before looking around the bar at the people who were staring at the kid next to the tall man, and who must have heard everything Hagrid said. "Er...sure, Hagrid. I didn't hear nothing."

"Yer a prince, Tom." Hagrid leaned over and patted the man hard on his shoulder, making Tom nearly drop the glass in his hands. "Come on, Harry. Let's go get your supplies."

Tom, the bartender, shook his head at Hagrid, once again forgetting to not mention the kid's name in public. Hagrid headed back toward a brick wall at the back end of the hallway and raised his parasol from his hip where he had looped it at for easy carrying. "Now, Harry, don't be surprised by what yer about to see. Also, stay close to me, Diagon Alley isn't the sort of place for yeh to be wandering off by yerself, even if it is better than that Knockturn Alley."

Tapping his umbrella to the wall on a specific brick, the bricks began to peel away one at a time, speeding up as they went before a sizable passage allowed them access past it, leading into Harry's future.

* * *

**I'm not sure if I will expand on this, it was something I needed to get out of my head. Now that it's gone, we'll see what happens. Ja Ne.**


	2. Chapter 2

**More destructiveness brought forth from my mind as it purges itself. If this looks at all familiar to people in any way to the book, it should. All stories have to start somewhere, the differences will come later.**

**Disclaimer: Biscuit claims nothing! Biscuit is a destroyer, not a creator!**

**G.B.: Yes, you will see many sections that will looked to have come straight from the first Harry Potter book. as I mentioned above, all stories have to start somewhere. It's highly unimaginative, but that doesn't mean it won't change later on...**

* * *

The first trip into Gringott's had been nerve racking for Harry. Everything was run by the creatures Hagrid had identified as Goblins, their dirty green skin made him itch all over for the need to find some cleaning agent and scrubbing each Goblin down till they shined, especially the Goblin that had allowed them down into the vaults, one Griphook, by name. Hagrid had been kind enough to explain to him the money system in the magic world when they had stopped off at his vault. In all honesty, he had been paying more attention to the sack of Galleons than he was to what Hagrid had said to Griphook and their travel to the next vault.

His eyes had been drawn to the walls of the vault since they had entered the bank. There was something about them that reminded him of the work he used to do around the Dursley's. He had found that he could do things around the house as long as he focused long enough on the things he was doing, making it easier to clean. There was also those few times when they had called for him in the house, and he had heard them, even when the windows and the doors were closed.

Hagrid had talked to him about magic for a little bit before entering Gringott's. He had also mentioned something about a compulsion on the entrance to Gringott's, something about the words forcing some kind of compulsion on those who read it. Harry hadn't seen any words, but he wondered if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Leaving the Gringott's bank, Hagrid patted his pocket where he had put the something into it, as if unsure it was there or not. "So, Harry," Hagrid spoke kindly down to the little boy as he reached down and patted the boy carefully, "If yeh don't mind, I think I need to head off to the Leaky Cauldron for a nip. That cart ride through Gringott's upset me a might bit." Hagrid smiled weakly, rubbing the back at his head as he grinned at Harry before his eyes took a wistful look when he looked over his shoulder at the bank. "I wish I could of seen one of their dragons they keep in there."

Harry's ears perked as he turned back to look through the doorways into the bank "There are dragons?"

"Of course, Harry." Hagrid blinked at the look on Harry's face before blushing. "I'm sorry, I forgot that yeh've grown up in the muggle world." Reaching into one of the ever ready pockets on his person, Hagrid pulled out a rolled up scroll and checked the contents before handing to Harry. "Now, before I can send yeh back to yer family, yeh need to get all of the things on here."

Harry accept the scroll and opened it. Reading over the list quickly, Harry rolled it up and looked back up at Hagrid. "Freak will do this immediately, Hagrid sir."

"Uh...Harry..." Hagrid looked worriedly at Harry before the boy could turn away from him. "Why do yeh call yerself Freak all the time?"

Harry blinked at the large man. "Freak is Freak, Hagrid sir." He tilted his head as Petunia's reminder about being out in public when not being at home sounded in his head. "Although, Harry Potter is Freak's name. Freak had forgotten that Freak was to use it in public. Thank you for reminding Freak, Hagrid sir."

"About that, Harry..." Hagrid looked around once more, eyes darting from side to side before he dropped his voice and held his hand up in front of his mouth, blocking one side from the whisper he was trying and failing at keeping quiet. "Can yeh just call yerself Harry while in Diagon Alley? People might act funny otherwise..."

"_Maybe their acting funny is a bad thing?"_ Harry thought to himself. "Harry can do that, Hagrid sir."

"Yer a good lad, Harry." Hagrid smiled as he stood straight and patted Harry on the back. "Off ye go, now. Yeh should head to Madam Malkin's first for yer school robes." As Harry walked off into Diagon Alley by himself, Hagrid sighed. "This job ol' Dumbledore's got me doing is downright nerve wracking. Best be off for a quick pick me up."

Harry walked off down the alley, looking back and forth at the shops and the various items for sale in the windows. He had never been someplace magical before, least, that he had ever known. He had managed to get separated from Petunia near a grocer's store and ended up some place that sold potions that were supposed to cure baldness. The person behind the counter certainly looked like they were very hairy, since the person's eyebrows went to the floor in all sorts of different colors.

Looking up at a sign on the front of the building, it proclaimed it to be the very clothes shop he had been looking for. Stepping through the doorway, he looked around at the interior and the urge to look at the bolts of cloth and threads had him wanting to scratch something, though not himself.

A squat witch dressed in mauve robes approached Harry. "Hogwarts, dear?" The woman said with a smile Before Harry could speak, she started hustling him off to the back of the shop. "Got the lot of them here...In fact, we have another student being fitted for his robes right now." She had him up on a stool and a robe over his head before he even realized she'd done it.

She knelt and started pinning up his robes even as Harry began looking around the store at the other things that seemed to draw his attention.

"Hello." a boy with a pale, pointed face said to him, gaining his attention. The boy looked to be halfway through his own fitting as another witch worked on his robes. "Hogwarts, too?" Harry nodded, his eyes starting to roam around the room once more. "My father's next door buying my books and Mother's up the street looking for wands. The boy said with a bored drawl. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

Harry started to relax around the boy, as he acted somewhat like his cousin did at home.

"Do _you_ have your own broom?" The boy asked with his bored tone, making conversation for conversations sake.

"Yes, Sir." Harry nodded as he thought about Privet drive and the broom in the kitchen by the waste bin. "It's not what it used to be, sir. Freak maintains it as best he can..."

The boy's eyebrow raised in the air, looking at Harry quizzically before getting a smug look on his face. "Must be hard to play Quidditch on such an old broom then..."

Harry's head tilted to the side, his face full of confusion. "Quidditch, sir?"

The boy looked at the boy as if he was a nutter. "You've never heard of Quidditch? What kind of backwater hut have you lived in for the last few years to have never heard of Quidditch?"

Harry shrugged as he continued to look around at the things that drew his eyes, even though there was nothing special about them. "Mr Vernon says that sports are for poufters." Harry guessed that it was a sport of some type. Boys other than him seemed to talk about those kinds of things. "Said that real sports come from fighting man to man."

"Ah, a duelist." The boy nodded as his face lost its disdain. "I've heard of their eccentricities. So glad my father never was that kind of mental." The blond looked back over at Harry. "Know what House you'll be sorted into yet?" Harry shook his head in the negative. "Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they? But I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been." The boy seemed to stare off at something else in disgust as he continued. "Imagine being in Hufflepuff. I think I'd leave...wouldn't you?"

Harry couldn't imagine leaving his house. Where else would he go? Houses needed cleaning, what would the Dursleys do without him while he was gone?

"I say, look at that man!" The boy nodded toward the window, sending Harry's eyes curiously to the glass. Hagrid was standing outside the window with two large cones of ice cream in hand, pointing at them as if they were the only thing preventing him from entering. "Has no fashion sense whatsoever." The boy said in a flippant tone. "Is he some wild man from the woods? What does he think a simple serving of ice cream will get him other than children that he can steal off the street?"

"Hagrid steals children?" Harry blinked over at the blond boy. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come with him after all. Still, Petunia said to go with him.

"I think I've heard of a Hagrid before." The boy thought for a moment. "From Hogwarts, I believe. Some kind of servant." He snorted at that. "Guess he is some kind of savage if he wears _those_ everywhere he goes. Not even a pureblood. If I ran Hogwarts, I'd have gotten rid of him long ago."

Harry frowned at the boy. Hagrid had been nice to him so far and had helped him a lot. He didn't appreciate the blonde's words, not one bit.

"What's your surname?" The blond boy looked at him, as if expecting an immediate answer.

Harry blinked. Surname? It could be Dursley, since he lived with them for as long as he could remember, so why was his name Potter?

Before Harry finished contemplating that answer, the witch working on him finished the last of the alterations. "That's you done, my dear. Run along to your guardian now."

"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose." The blond drawled once again as he went back to suffering for his clothes.

Harry walked up to the counter and paid Madam Malkin for her work on his robes and was asked by the witch to return later for the finished robes once he had his trunk. Stepping outside, Hagrid handed him one of the ice creams and started walking him around to his other buys. Thinking back about the conversation with the boy that reminded him of Dudley, he looked up at Hagrid. "Hagrid sir, what is Quidditch?"

Hagrid blinked at him before looking embarrassed about something. "I keep forgetting that yeh've grown up in a muggle family most yer life. Quidditch is the sport of wizards, Harry." Hagrid became animated as he tried to explain the sport to Harry, who listened to him as they walked along. Honestly, he'd never paid any attention to sports, and only listened to bits and pieces when they were mentioned around the Dursley's house. Maybe he'd find a book on it somewhere?

"Does it have something to do with Hufflepuff and Slytherin, Hagrid sir?" Harry asked as Hagrid took a breath to try and think of another way to explain the greatest game ever made. When Hagrid nodded, harry asked. "What is a hufflepuff?"

"Why it's one of the school houses at Hogwarts." Hagrid smiled as he thought about Hogwarts. "Hogwarts has four houses, and depending on the Sorting Hat, yeh get placed in a house." Hagrid leaned down and gave one of his discreet whispers to Harry. "Course, any house is better than Slytherin. Not a single witch or wizard that's gone bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."

Harry didn't know a You-Know-Who. Maybe it was someone so famous that he could only be addressed in that way? Harry's thought of the famous person were derailed the moment that they had walked into Flourish and Blotts. Harry hadn't ever imagined so many books as there were in this one building. When Harry wasn't cleaning, he was studying under Petunia with his books, or reading by himself. Imagining everything these books could teach him, Hagrid had to forcibly stop him from buying too many by suggesting to Harry to find a trunk for his books and supplies.

After stopping off to claim a trunk big enough to fit Harry in comfortably, he packed away his books inside it before heading back to Madam Malkin's for his robes. They continued to a potions shop that carried various supplies, including the basic cauldron that all students needed, scales for properly measuring ingredients and other things. They went right next door to the apothecary for the potion supplies after that, Hagrid requesting the basic potions needed for a first year at Hogwarts while Harry explored the room. He knew some of the ingredients placed on sale, and some of them seemed to have come right out of fairy tales told to Dudley when he was younger.

Taking the list back from Harry and looking at it, Hagrid noticed that each line of items had been crossed out at some point in time, though he had never seen Harry pull out a quill to write with. Maybe he was using some muggle tool to write with? "Just yer wand left..." Hagrid trailed off as his eyes lit up, looking slyly at Harry. "Course, yer birthday is today, so yeh've got to have a birthday present. Cake just won't do."

Harry looked surprised at Hagrid. A present? Harry had never gotten presents for his birthday. Well, they had told him his school books were presents of a sort, so maybe he had gotten presents before? They walked down Diagon Alley for about twenty minutes coming to a building called Eyelop's Emporium.

Walking inside, Harry started at all the jewel like eyes looking at him. Cat, owls, and all sorts of animals kept inside. Some pets that were natural predators to each other were placed right next to each other, sitting peacefully alongside one another which didn't make much sense to Harry, but at least they weren't trying to hurt one another. Harry followed Hagrid over to the owls and was watching as the large man muttered out loud as he was looking through the owls, comparing them to each other.

Harry walked back and forth among the owls, peering at all of them, one at a time, till he came to a snowy white owl hanging off to the side by itself. Its head was tucked up underneath its wing in sleep, but that wasn't what caught his attention to it. There was something around the cage of the owl, something that was pushing at his sight, making him want to look away from the owl. He had to blink a lot of times as the push kept trying to make his eyes look past the bird and to somewhere else.

He looked over at Hagrid. Hagrid would glance over to him a few times, looking where the white owl was hanging off by itself, then go back and mutter about about the owls in front of him. Looking around himself, Harry found a stool. Placing the stool underneath the cage that pushed at his sight, he reached up carefully, guiding his hands that tried to stray away from the cage to its edge before grabbing it and pushing it up carefully, getting it down from its hook.

As Harry brought it down next to him, his eyes didn't want to push away from the cage anymore. Getting a curious look on his face, he looked back up about where the cage had been, but couldn't find the hook it had hung on. Shrugging, Harry stepped down from the stool and walked over to Hagrid, tugging on his furry coat.

"What do yeh got there, Harry?" Hagrid asked as he lifted the cage up by the top and peered into it. Humming to himself in tones showing his approval, Hagrid finally nodded before looking down at Harry. "I guess yeh want her, do yeh?"

They stepped out of Eyelops a few moments later, Hagrid carrying Harry's trunk over one very large shoulder while Harry carried the cage with his new pet. He'd worry about naming her later. "Thank you, Hagrid sir."

"Don't worry bout it, Harry. It'd be weird if you didn't have a pet. Most students have one when they go to Hogwarts." Hagrid smiled as he guided the boy over to Ollivanders. "Now for yer last item before heading home."

The very last shop at the end of Diagon alley was a narrow and shabby place from the outside. Peeling gold letters named the place as Ollivanders and its ancestry of being the best since 382 B.C. A single wand laid in the window on a purple cushion. Walking toward the building, the urge to clean started to rise in him to exponential proportions.

Walking in, the sound of a tinkling bell sounded somewhere off in the building, which was decidedly larger inside than out, and much cleaner. Hagrid sat in the only chair on this side of the counter, though Harry seemed to have forgotten everything as his eyes whipped back and forth rapidly. Narrow boxes sat on shelves all over the back of the building, and each one of them pulled at his eyes, as if asking him for something. He could almost hear something in the room, like lots and lots of voices calling his name.

"Good afternoon." The soft voice snapped him out of his trance, followed by the sharp breaking sound of the chair under Hagrid An old man was standing behind the previously vacant counter, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the barely noticeable dim light in the shop.

Harry got the same feeling from the man as he was getting from all the boxes around the building, only different. It was as if the man was listening to Harry instead of calling to him.

"Ah yes," The old man spoke in the silence, "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." Harry tilted his head to the side. Did he say his name? He didn't remember saying it. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

The man's eyes seemed to want into his head, and Harry was sure that they had not blinked yet.

"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it...it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, after all."

Harry looked back behind the man to the stacks of boxes on shelves. Those were wands?

Harry blinked when he felt the old man trace the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Looking up at the man, he noticed the frown on the man's face. "I'm sorry to say that I sold the wand that did this." Harry blinked, thinking he missed something when he looked back at the wands. "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands...Well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."

Shaking his head, the old man moved past Harry to talk to Hagrid. Blinking as they talked with each other, Harry looked back into the stacks of wands in their boxes. He stared at a box next to him and listened to it for a bit, closing his eyes as he focused on the sound it was making. He let the world fade away as he listened to the box, though he was snapped back to reality when someone shook his shoulder.

Looking up at Hagrid, the half giant said to Harry, "Yeh all right, Harry? Mr. Ollivander's been calling to yeh for a few minutes now."

Looking up at the old man identified as Ollivander, Harry tried to make his excuses to him, with the old man waving him off. "It's certainly alright. It's rare to see someone who can listen so closely as I do." Ollivander smiled with his luminescent, moon like eyes. "Now, which hand is your dominant hand?"

Harry raised his right arm to Ollivander and watched as the man took out a tape measure and began measuring every possible length involved with his arm, and a few places that didn't. "Every Ollivander want has a magical core of a powerful magical substance. Unicorn's hair, Phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of Dragons. No two wands are ever the same, even if they were made exactly the same way each and every time, just as no magical creature is the same to any other of its kind. And, of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

He watched as Ollivander headed back into his store even though the tape measure continued to measure all over his body, including the space under his nose to the top of his lip. He watched as Ollivander took a few boxes down from their places, listening to them as they came closer with the old man.

"That will do." Ollivander said as he walked up to the counter, and the tape measure fell toward the floor, Harry's reflexes catching it before it fell into the cage he was carrying. Smiling to Harry, Ollivander accepted the tape measure as he handed Harry the first of many wands.

The wand was nearly audible in his ears as it spoke to Harry as he held it, but it didn't feel right to Harry's hand. Under direction from Ollivander, he waved the first wand, then the next, and the next one after that. Each wand that Harry failed to get any reaction from, Ollivander seemed to smile brighter and brighter.

"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere...I wonder, now... yes, why not... unusual combination...holly and Phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

As soon as Harry's hand touched the wand, all the voices in the shop stopped. The silence disturbed him so much, he actually looked up and around. Hagrid frowned at Harry, though Ollivander seemed to smile even greater. Looking at the wand, Harry raised it upwards and was amazed as red sparks jumped from the end of his wand, splashing against the walls. Hagrid whooped and clapped while Ollivander began to talk.

"Oh, Bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well...how curious...how very curious..." He placed Harry's wand back in its case , laying a sheet of brown paper over top the wand before closing the case and handing it to Harry absently. Harry waited as whatever was going around in Ollivander's head seemed to get itself into order before he smiled down at Harry.

"I remember every wand I ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the Phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand gave another feather...just one other." Ollivander explained. "It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother...why, the brother gave you that scar."

Harry blinked as he reached up to touch the scar on his forehead for the first time in many years.

"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand truly does choose the wizard, remember..." Ollivander smiled as something twinkled in the old man's eyes. "I think we can expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things...Terrible, yes, but great things."

* * *

He arrived home after taking the train from downtown. The Dursleys, having decided that the danger was over after Harry had been taken from them had come home before him and were still settling in. Petunia noticed the large trunk behind Harry and suggested to her husband that since Harry was now important for the 'Freaks' to take notice in him once again, that they would frown upon Harry living under the stairs in the cupboard, to which Vernon grunted agreement. Dudley wasn't very happy that he had to give up the spare room that held his toys to Harry, but he was placated by Vernon who promised to make it up to his son later.

Harry was allowed to spend most of his time in his room alone, which bothered him somewhat. He was allowed to do the things he had always done day in and day out till the letter had arrived, but now Petunia did some of the work instead of Harry, and simply directed him back up to his room so that he could read his books in private. She even came up to listen to him read out loud from the book he got called _Hogwarts, A History_.

She had come up and watched Harry once talking to his owl. It disturbed her slightly that he was talking to his pet owl as if it could answer him back, it disturbed her even more when the owl seemed to answer him back with subtle shifts, body stances, head movement, and of course, hooting at him.

The day that Sept. 1st came around, Harry was up and packed and had his trunk waiting down at the doorway for his aunt, who was giving him his last bits of advice before the cab arrived to take them to the train station written about on the ticket Hagrid had given Harry.

"You're not going to have a problem with people calling you Harry, are you?" Petunia asked as she checked her coat pockets. "Everyone will call you Harry Potter at school, so you shouldn't use your other name too much, is that clear?"

"Yes, Mrs. Dursley ma'am." Harry said as he checked Hedwig, his white owl once more to make sure she was alright. "Do you want to ride with me, or do you want to go to this Hogwarts, Hedwig?" The white owl was preening herself, working her left wing over for a moment before she ruffled herself and shook its head disturbingly like a human. "Thank you, Freak would be very lonely without Hedwig."

"Harry." Petunia admonished. "Start using Harry now, Harry." She picked her house keys up from a dish as the taxi pulled into the driveway of the house. "It's time to go. Are you sure you won't need any help with your luggage?"

"Harry has no problem with luggage, Mrs. Dursley ma'am." Harry proclaimed as he picked his case up as if it weighed nothing, which looked strange since his frame wasn't nearly big enough to not look like he was straining under the weight.

The trip to the train station was quiet and uneventful, even Hedwig, which sat on Harry's lap, didn't make a peep as they traveled the thirty odd minutes to the train station and dropped Harry off at the steps. Making sure that he had a dolly for himself, she watched as he secured his effects and placed Hedwig on top of his case before turning around and looking up at Petunia.

"Fre-" Harry stopped as Petunia frowned at him. "Harry Potter will miss Mrs. Dursley ma'am." His eyes were beginning to tear up as she watched, and she bit on her lip to not show any emotion on hers.

"Do a good job at school, and stay safe, Harry." Petunia said as she ruffled his untamable mane of hair.

Nodding, Harry took hold of the dolly and began pushing it inside the station, not looking back at Petunia as he disappeared into the press of people. Problem was, once he had found Platform Nine and Ten, he didn't know where he was supposed to go next. Standing in confusion in the middle of the Platform area, he had to move twice because the constables and the ticket masters for the trains headed toward him to see why he was loitering about.

He was about to give it up as a bad job and ask Hedwig if she could find the train when he abruptly bumped into a red headed girl and her family. The girl was maybe as old as he was, he wasn't too sure about it.

"Harry is sorry, ma'am." He said as he reached down and offered her his hand. "Harry Potter didn't see you there."

"That's all..." The girl's eyes suddenly locked onto him as she froze in getting up, looking at Harry as if seeing something amazing. Harry blinked at the girl as she continue to stare at him, even when her four brothers and her mother began calling to her.

"Ginevra Weasley, off the ground this instant!" The hot admonishing tone of her mother snapped the girl, Ginevra, out of her daze as she leapt to her feet and brushed the dirt from herself, and then kept brushing as Harry watched her.

"Ginny, come on! We'll be late for the Express!" the youngest boy hissed at his sister, giving Harry an eye of curiosity before turning around and ignoring the both of them.

Harry watched as the twin boys looked around at the station as they slid their dolly's toward one of the barricades adorning the station. Getting up a head of steam, he blinked as first one twin, then the other disappeared through the barricade. Harry had never seen anything like that before. He didn't even feel it when the boy's walked through it, he was slightly impressed after walking around Diagon Alley on his first trip and feeling things all about him all the time.

"Ginny, go on now..." The matriarch of the Weasleys called to the daughter as she took her child in hand and stepped after the youngest boy through the barricade.

Harry looked around at all the people ignoring the fact that someone had walked into a barricade and kept going like nothing was there. Shrugging, he pushed his cart forward toward the same barricade at about the same point and pushed his way through. He felt as he passed the edge and looked back to see that the platform was clearly there, but something shimmered over the entrance he had just entered. Wondering why no one else seemed to notice the ripple in the air, Harry kept walking till a new platform appeared, kids and their parents saying their goodbyes and shuffling themselves onto the train carefully.

Harry was a bit put off at the thought of so many people. He normally only had to deal with the Dursleys, and the one time he had been in school with other kids his age. School didn't seem to go too well when they had threatened Mrs. Dursley, and he had gotten the idea that the more people were around, the more likely he would do something wrong.

"Gran, I've lost my toad again." A round faced boy complained with a frustrated look on his face as he was looking around on the ground for the toad.

"_Oh, _Neville_._" An old woman standing nearby him must have been his grandmother.

Noticing out of the corner of his eye as a toad hopped its way onto the train, Harry tapped the boy's shoulder and pointed off in the direction of a green leg disappearing into the train. The boy was off with a shot calling for Trevor while his Gran sighed at her grandson's antics.

"But mum, he said his name was Harry Potter..." a girl whined nearby. Looking over in the general direction of the voice, he noticed the Matriarch of the Weasleys had hold of the youngest son and was cleaning his face with a handkerchief she had pulled from somewhere on her person.

Harry watched them for a bit, wondering if that's how magical families were like, or if it was just the Matriarchs of family's. He'd seen it done to Dudley on more than one occasion by Mrs. Dursley. Shrugging, Harry stopped his trolley at one of the step ups and picked his case up and placed it over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing. Many people stopped and watched as Harry simply carried the trunk and birdcage all in one go.

"Mum, I thought we weren't allowed to do magic until we got to Hogwarts." Ron Weasley, the one under the hanky, asked as he and his family stared at the boy who disappeared into the train.

* * *

Harry found an empty compartment and stowed his trunk in the overhead. Sitting Hedwig down in the seat next to him, Harry stood up long enough to reach into his trunk and pull the top book out of it for something to read while on the train. He listened as several people walked by the outside of his compartment though no one bothered him until the train whistle sounded and the train got under way.

The compartment door slid open and the red haired boy that was getting his face washed by his mother walked in, grumbling about how unfair it was, though Harry didn't know what was unfair and to who.

"Do you mind if I have a seat?" Ron pointed to the other side of the compartment and the open seats.

"Harry doesn't mind." Harry muttered behind his book, looking up long enough to notice Ron before going back to reading.

Ron sat down after stowing his trunk above his seat, flopping down under it before staring out the window sullenly. He glanced over at Harry every once in awhile before breaking down and asking, "Are you really Harry Potter?"

Harry looked up from his book in surprise at the red headed boy. "Harry is called such."

"Does that mean you've got the..." Ron pointed at Harry's forehead. Harry tilted his head to the side, inadvertently showing his scar from behind his hair. "Blimey, you really are him. 'Spose I owe Ginny an apology."

Ron sat back to absorb this bit of information when the compartment door opened and the two red headed twins stuck their heads into the room. "Oy, Ron." The first twin said as the second spoke on his heels.

"We're going to the middle of the train." Both of the twins grinned. "Lee Jordan's got himself a giant tarantula."

"Right." Ron said unhappily as he stared back out the window.

The first twin noticed Harry and elbowed the other. "Hey, Ron. Who's your friend?"

"Oh, right." Ron smiled as he sat up again, facing Harry. "Fred, George. Meet Harry Potter."

Both of the twins looks at Harry before they glanced back at Ron. "Nice try, little brother." Fred, Harry thought, replied to Ron.

Right behind his twin, George spoke as well. "Ginny said he was here."

"But you meeting Harry Potter?"

"Maybe at school."

Harry blinked at the two boys as they seemed to follow each other's speech as if they were one person with two separate mouths. He'd never heard of anything like that before, though it looked like fun.

"Have it your own way." Ron said as he waved them off. "You'll see when we get to Hogwarts, then you'll sing a different tune."

"I hope so." George started this time.

"We've wanted to try."

"Something different this year."

"Something that annoys."

"Perfect Prefect Percy."

Harry was smiling at the twins now, enjoying their disjointed speech. He wished he had a twin he could do that with.

The twins left them to themselves and they sat in silence for a bit while Ron grumbled about troublemakers and showoffs while Harry read in his book a little. It would have continued on had Ron not noticed the owl sitting next to Harry.

"It's a beautiful owl y'got there." Harry looked up at Ron, who was eying the snowy owl beside him.

Harry looked at his owl, who seemed to be putting up with being stared at by the boy across from her. Normally, an owl would be asleep during the daytime hours, at least, that was what Petunia told him. She mumbled something about magic and animals and shook her head afterwards, never explaining to Harry.

"All's I got is the family pet, Scabbers." Ron reached into his robe and pulled out a rat that had seen better days. "Dad bought Percy an owl for making Prefect, but they couldn't aff-" He seemed to realize what he was saying and changed in mid stride, "I mean, all's I got is Scabbers."

"Hedwig lets me have her." Harry said, smiling at the snowy owl that seemed to bob its head at the statement. "She says Harry will do, though she doesn't say what Harry will do." Harry didn't understand his owl in the least.

Ron stared between Harry and the owl in its cage before shaking his head at the both of them. "Barmy." Ron muttered as he put Scabbers away.

Harry tilted his head in confusion at the statement before shrugging and reopening his book, taking up where he left off at. The ride continued onward as Ron seemed to hem and haw in his seat, fidgeting with pent up energy that he wanted to use for some purpose, but didn't seem to have any way to spend it.

The trolley had come by at one point, filled with various foods and snacks for the kids, the witch behind the cart stopped long enough to ask if they wanted anything before heading off further down the train. Harry didn't even pull his head out of what he was reading as Ron pulled out a small wrapped sandwich and proceeded to eat slowly. They were interrupted once again by someone passing by, though this time, they were looking for something.

"Have you seen a toad by itself?" a familiar voice asked from the doorway. Harry looked up to see the same round faced boy from the station asking about his pet. Ron was already shaking his head no, which made the round face boy start to cry in frustration before heading further up the train in search of the amphibian.

Harry watched the boy stop off at the next room before turning his head back the way the boy had come, noticing a small green frog hop out of one room and onto the trolley, which was beginning to make its rounds back up the train.

"Wanna see some magic?" Ron was already up and rooting around in his trunk, pulling it down and sorting through it as he dug around for whatever it was he was looking for. He pulled out a wand that had seen better days, chipped and cracked with even its core ingredient poking out. To Harry, it was whining in pain. "Unicorn's hair is poking out a bit..."

As Harry sat down to watch, the round faced boy returned, this time accompanied by a girl with bushy brown hair that defied logic. "Have either of you seen a toad? Neville's lost his." Her voice brooked no tolerance, though she was curious as to why Ron had his wand out.

"Harry saw a toad hop onto the trolley." Harry announced as the trolley started to approach. Stepping out of the car, he walked up to the trolley lady and asked her if he could look through her cart before getting anything. When she nodded, Harry ducked down onto his hands and knees and began rooting through the bottom shelf before pulling out the still living green toad.

The cart lady was more than happy to be rid of the toad as Harry thanked her and walked back to the room with Ron, Neville and the bushy brown haired girl.

"Trevor!" Neville shouted, trying to take the toad from Harry, but Harry pulled the toad out of the boy's range first.

"Trevor is scared that you'll punish him." Harry announced, making Neville go slack jaw while the other two stared at him weirdly. "Trevor has never gone on a ride before, so Trevor was exploring."

"But I'd never hurt Trevor!" Neville whined to Harry.

"Harry never said hurt, Harry said punish." The toad croaked, making Harry look at it before handing it over to Neville carefully. The boy took it in hand and hugged it openly, getting a prolonged croak from the animal before thanking Harry and rushing off.

"Are you Harry Potter?" The girl asked Harry, getting his attention. "You're not supposed to be able to talk to animals." The snowy owl next to her hooted at the bushy haired girl, getting her to jump slightly.

"Hedwig does not like to be called an animal." Harry said as he sat back down next to the snowy owl, placing the book he had laid on the seat onto his lap as he looked at the boy and girl now sitting across from him.

Ron shook his head. "They never said nothing about Harry Potter being a nutter."

The girl gave Ron a disapproving look while Harry tilted his head at Ron, curious.

"Are you going to do magic?" The girl asked as she gestured toward the rat and the shaky looking wand in Ron's hand.

As if remembering what he had been in the middle of, the boy nodded his head. "The twins taught me a spell to turn my rat a yellow color, but I've had problems getting the spell to work right." Clearing his throat, he placed the rat in his lap as he raised his wand over top of it. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turns this stupid, fat rat yellow." He waved his wand over the sleeping rat which was stubbornly refusing to change any color.

The girl looked skeptically at Ron. "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever so much a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard..." Harry goggled as he watched the girl rush through talking, wondering how she was able to say so much with a single breath that didn't look all that deep. "I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough..." She seemed to realize her manners as she took a breath as she continued. "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

Harry glanced at Ron's stunned face, wondering if Ron was going to try to talk in one breath as well. Girls were strange, and apparently, Ron thought so as well. "I'm...Ron Weasley."

"Harry is Harry Potter." Harry smiled happily, hoping that they wouldn't yell at him for not using his full name. Petunia said that friends didn't use their full names when talking to one another.

"Are you really?" asked Hermione. "I know all about you, of course... I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

Harry nodded. "Harry has read Great Wizarding Events, though Harry does not remember doing much of what the book said Harry did."

Nodding to Harry, Hermione changed subjects. "Do either of you know which house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, you two should probably get dressed into your robes soon. I expect we'll be there soon." Getting up from her seat, she walked back outside, giving the two boys a wave before heading off to another part of the train.

Ron shook his head after Hermione left. "Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it." Ron flipped open his trunk with his foot, tossing his wand inside before kicking it closed. "Stupid spell... George gave it to me, but he knew it was a dud."

Harry got up and opened his case above his head, pulling out the school robe nearest to the top without jostling the books inside his case out before sliding the book in his hand back into the case. He slid his school robes on even as Ron sighed greatly to himself and began rooting through his own trunk for his robes.

"Do you have a Quidditch team?" Ron asked as he rooted around in his disheveled trunk.

Harry frowned, wondering exactly what was so great about this Quidditch sport. "Harry has never heard of Quidditch until recently."

The trunk lid caught Ron in the back of the head as he tried to stand up and close his trunk at the same time, a curse slipping from Ron's lips at the pain he just gave himself. He was just starting to blink the pain away when the door to the room opened up once again, only now three boys were standing in the doorway, one of which Harry recognized from the clothing store in Diagon Alley.

"Is it true?" The blond haired boy asked as he glanced between Ron and Harry. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this car. So it's you, is it?"

Harry blinked as the blond boy locked eyes with him. Maybe Hermione had mentioned it? Or maybe the twins? "I is Harry Potter, sir." The two boys flanking the blond boy were thick set, as if they carried lots of heavy things daily, and was frowning as if they were upset. Maybe they were unhappy that they weren't going to be at home helping with work, too?

"Oh, this is Crabbe and Goyle," The blond haired boy spoke carelessly, gesturing to one, then the other boy behind him. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron coughed into his hand, which drew the attention of Malfoy.

"Think my name's funny, do you?" The disdain pouring out of his eyes at Ron was impossible to miss. "No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." Draco turned his head, missing the sneer on Ron's face. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

Harry watched as Malfoy offered his hand to him in friendship. Maybe this was another way at making friends? Reaching up, he took Malfoy's hand and shook it firmly, smiling at the blond boy who's grin never really reached his eyes. "Harry Potter thanks Mr. Malfoy for his consideration. Harry appreciates any and all help Mr. Malfoy is willing to give Harry."

Nodding to Harry, he glanced at Ron out of the corner of his eye and smirked. "You really should watch who you hang out with, Potter. Riffraff like Hagrid and the Weasleys, it'll rub off on you."

Ron jumped to his feet in anger. "Say that again." Ron seethed, glaring daggers at Malfoy.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered. Ron began breathing deeply, nearly panting in anger as Malfoy sneered at him, his hand reaching out to jab a finger into the redhead's chest. "Know your place around your betters, Weasley. It'll save you grief in the long run."

Harry looked worriedly between Ron and Draco, hoping that either of his friends weren't about to get into a fight in the car. Hedwig wouldn't like that in the least bit. The fight nearly got under way until Goyle shouted in pain, having tried to get past Malfoy to the side, he had placed his hand down near Ron's pet rat, who had awoken when it's tail had nearly been pinched between the armrest and a meaty hand. Turning, it had sunk its teeth into the meat of Goyle finger and was holding on for dear life.

Flicking his hand back and forth to try and dislodge the rat from its purchase, Harry was able to get up and catch Scabbers as it flicked free from Goyle's hand, stopping the rat from meeting with a painful stop with the car's window. The three boys disappeared quickly and were soon replaced with Hermione standing in the doorway, looking at both Harry and Ron as Harry gave back Scabbers to an irate Ron. "What _has_ been going on in here?"

"Thanks." Ron groused as he inspected his pet. "I don't believe it. He went back to sleep already." Harry smiled down at the sleeping rat, envying it a little at how it did its job so perfectly. "So, you've met Malfoy before?"

Harry nodded to Ron and Hermione, who had come back in and taken a seat next to Ron as Harry told about how he had met the boy in Madam Malkin's.

"I've heard of his family." Ron spoke darkly. "They were one of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's family didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." Looking over at Hermione, Ron quirked an eyebrow at her. "Can we help you with something?"

Hermione shook her head as she stood back up. "I've been talking with the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"Scabbers has been fighting, not me." He held up his rat as proof.

Hermione looked to the rat before looking back up at Ron. "You haven't been talking to your pet, too, have you?" Ron scowled at her, which seemed to put Hermione into a snit. "Alright, I only came in here because people are behaving very childishly, running up and down the corridors." She turned to head back out of the compartment when she looked back over her shoulder, crossly at Ron. "And you have dirt on your nose, by the way."

Ron glared at her back as she left once again.

* * *

The train pulled into the station just as full dark set in. Leaving their luggage on the train per the directions of a magical voice that seemed to echo up and down the train. Harry stood on the platform, having lost Ron somewhere in the press of bodies, but unconcerned as he waited for his next directions. The glow of a light started to bob their directions as a familiar voice began to call in his direction.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there Harry?" Harry smiled and waved to Hagrid as the large man towered over the students, holding an old lamp in his hand that illuminated his frame in its glow.

"C'mon, follow me..." Hagrid's voice echoed as it drew in the youngest of the children. "Any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

The steps downward were a bit slick and not very easily seen, but Harry managed as best as he and the rest of the students could as they followed in the shadow of Hagrid as they made their way down to the lake below the train station. "Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid's voice called back to everyone, "jus' round this bend here."

Across the lake, standing proud on a bluff that looked more mountain than anything else, a castle like building stood framed in the light of the moon, it's windows and towers glowing with the light of torches and candles aplenty.

Harry jostled to a stop as his eyes widened. Hogwarts, the school for young wizards and witches seemed to pulse and glow in his eyes, shimmering with something that felt very much like what he had come to assume as magic. It pulsed and jumped, rippled and eddied across the vast surface of the outside walls. He could feel the power of the castle from where he stood.

They were moved into boats big enough safely for four students to a boat, and one especially large enough for Hagrid at the front with room enough for two more students. Harry barely noticed what boat he got into or the people that were riding with him as his eyes remained on Hogwarts. His eyes did happen to come off the school when the boats began to move and he looked down into the waters themselves, seeing something swimming underneath them in the dim light, something large.

Many of the students murmured around him in their boats and there was even a gasp or two as something broke the surface of the water, the slimy skin of a large watery creature not often found in a lake and more accustomed to being seen in the ocean. Harry thought he had heard Hagrid mention something about giant squid, but his attention wasn't on the grounds keeper and more on his surroundings.

Ivy brushed against his hair and he ducked instinctively as the boats rounded a slight bend under a cliff side and landed next to a dock with stairs leading upward toward the school front gates. Filing out, them made their way up the stairs, but not before Hagrid picked up a small animal, a toad, and handed it back to the round faced boy who couldn't seem to keep track of his animal.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" Making sure that the students had gathered around and hadn't strayed away, Hagrid turned and knocked on the large doors of the school, a resounding boom echoing inward from the blows.

After the three strikes, the doors opened inward and from the split between the double doors an aging witch appeared. Tall for the average woman, her black hair was pulled back in a bun that looked more like a torture to wear than to be convenient. Her stern face turned as she gave each new student a penetrating gaze before looking up at Hagrid.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid smiled to the teacher, though it was very weak and contrite under her gaze.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take it from here." Her voice was as stern as her face. Harry was reminded of Petunia when he heard her speak, though for the life of him, he didn't know why.

She turned and pushed the doorway open on both sides with little effort before leading the children silently into the school, only looking over her shoulder once to get them to follow her as they walked into a giant entrance hall. Harry glanced to the ceiling, glancing only briefly at the wall sconces, and realized that he couldn't see the roof with even the bright light around them. Following the woman as she lead them ever onward toward a droning noise of many voices, the students unconsciously crowned in toward one another for protection in these unfamiliar circumstances.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall spoke as she stopped before another large doorway, behind which the voices were coming from. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of the house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

She glanced around to make sure they were understanding what she was saying before she continued. "The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

Harry really didn't understand why there needed to be points, or even why their needed to be a cup. Maybe the cup was supposed to be like some special award that came with something special? Though that didn't make any sense to him. The house would only get the cup on the last day of school, which meant that if the cup came with anything, then it would be only good for that one day.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school." McGonagall continued to explain to the students in front of her. "I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Harry frowned at the professor. He was told to keep his books back on the train, he couldn't make himself smarter without those. Or could he?

McGonagall seemed to stare at Neville's cloak, which was slightly askew, and Ron's nose, which still had it's dirt smudge on it. Her eyes levitated toward him for a moment and pass him before looking back on him. She didn't give him a disapproving stare, but the gaze she was giving him was making him feel like he had done something wrong. Harry shifted in place, looking over himself to make sure he had everything in place the way he had been taught.

McGonagall turned and slipped through the doorway, closing it behind her as she passed into the room beyond but not before telling them that she would return for them when the hall was ready. Many of the students still huddled together with each other as they looked around themselves. Harry glanced around at the people around him, glancing at the unsure faces on some of the students, and the thinning patience on others like on Draco's face as he stood and waited in contempt.

Harry was nearly knocked off his feet when someone jumped into him with a shriek. Turning himself around to look at what the scream was about, he and those around him watched as several spectral forms floated through the back wall, deeply involved in some conversation.

The ghost of a pudgy friar and one dressed in a ruff and tights seemed to realize that they had an audience as they stopped mere feet before the students. "I say, what are you all doing here?" The tights wearing ghost asked.

When no one answered immediately, the eyes of the friar seemed to light up as a smile graces it's face. "New Students! About to be sorted, I suppose?" Several students nodded while Harry smiled at the ghost. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know."

"Move along now." The sudden sharp voice of the returned McGonagall made several students on the other side of their group jump in surprise. They turned to McGonagall even as she opened the doors for them. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start. Please, form a line and follow me inside."

The moment Harry stepped into the hall, he staggered in pain. The light in the hall was bright enough to leave no shadows except those under the long tables the students sat at and under the students themselves, but Harry had to nearly close his eyes from the brilliance of the magic in the air. Candles were being held aloft in the air over the tables, magically held in place as they floated, and the power that was holding them there was brilliant to Harry's eyes. He had to reach forward blindly to the student in front of him and take a hold of their shoulder to be able to continue to walk forward, blinded by the intensity.

His hand got smacked off once with an indignant noise only for a moment later to have someone take hold of his shoulder and peer at him. Their face shadowed the magic by how close it was and Harry winced, trying to smile appreciatively at them before nodding and asking if they could help him out. He barely saw the nod and the soft hand that took his guided him after as they made their way down the center of the magic.

He couldn't see much, but he assumed they were facing back toward the tables for the houses when they finally came to a stop. The power was thrumming through the room making it hard for Harry to hear anything, the sound of soft, syllibant singing making the room vibrate and make his ears ache. Harry was turned around by the person standing next to him and he could barely make out a small stool with a hat that had seen better lifetimes if the patches and stitching were any indication, though how he could see all that with the glare from the room made him wonder if it was real.

He clapped his hands to his ears the moment the brim of the hat opened and it began to sing in a tune about what Hogwarts was and its houses, and about what it was. Wincing and whimpering, his knees nearly gave out as the hat finally finished its song and he sighed weakly, a shiver running through him. He could barely hear Ron nearby hissing to those who would listen to him about his brothers and something about a troll, though Harry ignored it as he tried to collect himself.

Hopefully, whatever the hat entailed with their sorting, things wouldn't be any worse than what his tenure at Hogwarts was starting to turn out to be.

* * *

**Think I spelled everything right. I'm a bad writer, I'm an even worse speller.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I know some of you were wanting Harry in one particular house because of how he was acting and how he was portrayed. Well, let's see if I listened...**

**Disclaimer: AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!  
**

* * *

Dumbledore sat, blissfully happy, as Professor McGonagall escorted this years potential witches and wizards into the banquet hall. He smiled wistfully at all the young faces coming in and being in awe of the multitude of levitation charms and of the ceiling that always showed the weather outside of Hogwarts, a specialized magic that only Hogwarts could reproduce.

One child in particular had his undivided attention, that of a small 11 year old boy with slightly damaged glasses that had been meticulously repaired with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. He watched as the boy showed an innocence about him that was endearing, actually cringing in fright at all the magic going on around him.

True, it had been necessary to send the boy into the muggle world for his own protection, but there was that slight twinge of doubt in his heart that he wished for something better for poor little Harry. _"All of this must be so overwhelming for him."_ Dumbledore thought to himself as he smiled once again. A girl nearby to Harry took his hand and was walking him in between the tables to the front of the hall right before the teacher's table.

"_Hopefully, Harry, your years here at Hogwarts will be the brightest of your years to date."_ Dumbledore thought to himself as they turned and faced the Sorting Hat.

* * *

"When I call your name, please step forward and place the hat on your head." McGonagall called out to the students as as she rolled open a scroll, peering down at it through the glasses she wore on her face. "Abbott, Hannah!" She called, watching as the first girl, a pink faced girl with braided blond hair in pigtails picked the Sorting Hat up and sat down, placing the hat on her head. The Sorting Hat settle so low over her head that it nearly blocked the poor child's eyes.

She looked to be a little scared and flinched as the hat started its magic on her. Some of the kids were a little nervous when the Sorting Hat was placed on their head head. It took but a few moments before a seam opened on the hat near the brim and the hat shouted in a clear voice "Hufflepuff!"

The table on the far right of the room clapped loudly for the girl, who removed the Sorting Hat, and with a gesture from McGonagall, headed over to join her fellow students. Her face glowed with a deep red blush.

"Bones, Susan!" McGonagall called out, and the next girl, a confident brunette with her hair plaited down the back, stepped forward and placed the hat on her head as well. McGonagall had barely acknowledged the hat when it called out another Hufflepuff in as many minutes, though she did wait until the girl sat down at her house table before calling for, "Boot, Terry!"

She glanced at little Harry. Dumbledore had tried to convince her that what he had planned for the boy's raising was for the best, and she would normally have agreed with the Headmaster, but sending him to a family of muggles made her hackles rise. She started calling out names as her mind roamed over poor Harry's circumstances, doing her duty while she observed the boy who appeared to be wincing, though for some reason she couldn't describe.

It was only when she reached the P's that she started to zone back into the world around her. The little raven haired girl who had been holding his hand, Pansy Parkinson, was sorted to Slytherin. Two twins of Indian descent, one Parvati and Padma Patil, were sorted to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw respectively. She nearly bit her lip as the Sorting Hat seemed to take forever for little Sally-Anne Perks to be sorted of Hufflepuff, then the one everyone had waited for arrived.

"Potter, Harry!" McGonagall called out, the sound of the Great Hall falling silent as they waited for the legendary boy who had defeated the last great known evil in all of Britain to step forward and take his seat. Whispers started up as the waiting continued and McGonagall frowned as she watched the boy she thought was Harry seemed to shiver in place.

Glancing up at the teacher's table, specifically at the Headmaster, she waited for some cue as to what she was supposed to do. Dumbledore frowned down at Harry for just the briefest of moments before standing up and clearing his voice. "Would any of you young students happen to know which one of you is Harry Potter?" He asked politely, his voice resounding through the, once again, silent hall.

Ron Weasley raised his hand weakly, wishing for the life of him that he didn't have to do this in front of so many people. He could feel the eyes of the Great Hall locking onto him and muttering started up once more. Gestured forward by Dumbledore, Ron stepped forward in front of the rest of those in line.

"Your name, please?" Dumbledore smiled down at him, his eyes twinkling in delight.

"Ron Weasley, Sir." He wasn't sure if he was supposed to bow or not, and made a leg of it, doing it badly and earning a snicker or two from those who could see him clearly.

"You know which of these students is Harry Potter?" Dumbledore coaxed, gesturing to the rest of the students in line.

"Freak doesn't feel so good..." One boy muttered, wobbling in place. Dumbledore and McGonagall frowned quickly, glancing over at Harry.

Thinking that the frown was meant for him, Ron quickly pointed to the boy who had just spoken. "He's Harry Potter, Sir. I saw the scar and everything." Just as fast as he pointed Harry out, Ron stepped back into line and quickly pretended to be invisible.

Walking around the table, Dumbledore kneeled down next to Harry, an older woman dressed in a kind of half witch, half nurse outfit quickly joining him as she began to examine Harry. "Harry?" Dumbledore asked weakly, trying not to upset the poor boy as he looked to be sea sick on dry land by the way he was wobbling in place.

Madam Pomfrey pulled her wand out and gave it a quick flick, barely speaking a quick spell at Harry. She was shocked off her feet as the spell turned on her in mid air and smacked her in the face, giving her a diagnostic of herself instead of Harry. Blushing lightly at the unexpectedness of a spell being driven back at her, she regained her feet and tried again, this time putting a lot more power behind it.

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose into his hairline as Madam Pomfrey was knocked back off her feet by her own spell, which had returned back at her at twice the power she cast it. Glancing at Harry, Dumbledore made a quick decision. "Poppy, take Harry to the medical ward and examine him there. We'll have to sort him later." He reached over and gave Madam Pomfrey a hand up as she looked flustered and very put out.

Guiding Harry by a shoulder, she quickly shuffled him out of the Great Hall and off to the medical ward in the castle.

* * *

It was an hour later when Dumbledore brought McGonagall and a few others with him as he carried the Sorting Hat into the medical ward. Following closely behind was a short, gnomish man with a mustache dressed in flowing robes with a dark blur, almost violet trim. His counterpart was a woman of middling years, her brown hair starting to gray at the tips and slowly working its way back toward the roots dressed in the school robes, though hers were fringed tan and gold. The last of the people to enter looked to have a permanent sneer etched onto his face. The hook like nose and greasy hair gave him the appearance of a drenched vulture after a storm, his dark robes with emerald green fringe fitting him as if he were born to them.

Dumbledore watched as Poppy picked herself up off the floor, cursing under her breath as she made a grabbing motion for her wand which had fallen just out of her reach. "Still unable to find out what is wrong with young Harry, Poppy?"

The motherly face of Poppy Pomfrey snarled in Dumbledore's direction as she gestured to a now recovered Harry sitting upright in one of the medical beds. "I've been able to get a few things done, though not everything I've wanted for him. Some of my magic is being sent back at me if I use too powerful a spell on him."

McGonagall frowned as she glanced at Harry, who looked to be near to tears at watching Poppy fall over more than once. "Does he know counter curses already?" McGonagall asked aloud, the mutter from the other three heads of houses disconcerting.

"I've checked him for wards, for spell components, for scrolls or talismans, I even had him strip down to his undergarments before you came in and I can tell you honestly that whatever it is, it's not magical." Poppy nodded firmly, giving Harry a critical gaze.

"What about potions?" The slick haired headmaster spoke, his voice cold. "There are ways to protect oneself from intrusive magic."

"He drinks everything I give him, without any ill effects." Poppy muttered as she turned to face the teachers. I've done everything medically possible to identify whatever it is effecting young Mr. Potter, but it is beyond me."

"I would like to try something, Poppy." Dumbledore spoke up, seeing the hurt in the old medi-witch's eyes. "I trust your assessment, Poppy. I'm just going to see if I can find something not medically wrong with him."

"Of course, Headmaster." Poppy nodded, stepping over to the side to make room for Dumbledore.

"Is Freak being bad? Does Freak need punished?" Harry's eyes had tears peeking at the corners as he watched everyone standing around him.

Dumbledore smiled down at Harry. "Who is Freak, Harry?" Dumbledore asked politely as he sent his mind forward when their eyes made contact. Just as the Headmaster's mind brushed against Harry's, Dumbledore was thrown physically backwards through the air, bouncing off the far wall and crashing into one of the medical beds.

The greasy looking headmaster drew his wand faster than the eye could follow as the short head of house and the woman with the tan and gold fringe on her robes rushed over to aid Dumbledore. Poppy shook her head as she waited for Dumbledore to pick himself up out of the mess he had made.

"Don't move, Potter." The greasy head of house sneered as Harry began to cry silently, tears trailing down his face.

"Yes, Sir. Freak will not move." Harry managed to speak as he shook openly.

McGonagall's eyes narrowed as she observed Harry. The way he spoke, the dejected look on his face, the inexplicable defensive magic he was using without a wand. She was building toward a sneaking suspicion, and it didn't bode well for Dumbledore if she was right.

"Are you alright, Albus?" The short man asked as Dumbledore shook his head when he finally stood up. Patting himself to make sure that nothing was really hurt, he gave the smaller man a heartening grin.

"I do believe I am, Filius." He helped Pomona to repair the damaged bed and the side table. "That was a bit shocking, but it seems nothing was damaged." He allowed Poppy to give him a quick scan before walking back over to Harry. "It's alright, Severus. I don't believe Harry did anything on purpose, he was merely defending himself."

The greasy head of house, Severus, scowled before sliding his wand back up his sleeve. Never letting his eyes linger from Potter, he remained distrustful.

"Albus." McGonagall spoke for the first time since watching Poppy pull herself up from the floor. "I would like to try this time." She waited through his pensive look before receiving his nod. Poppy shook her head again and waited for the next accident about to happen. "Harry." McGonagall waited til Harry looked up at her. "You will do exactly what I tell you. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Harry whimpered sadly as the tears continued to fall down his cheeks.

She nodded at Harry. "You will allow Poppy here to scan you. You will not defend yourself." McGonagall gestured to the medi-witch, who looked at McGonagall like she had gone round the bend.

"Yes, Ma'am. Freak will not defend himself." Harry tried to sit up, but was still unable to move.

Nodding to Poppy, she gestured for the old witch to step forward. Poppy gave her a curious look before turning her wand on Harry and began to use her magic on him. Her face went from an incredulous look to outright shocked as she continued to use every type of medi-witch spell on Harry, including a few that weren't meant for boys.

Watching as Poppy stopped what she was doing, she waited a few moments for Poppy to gather herself before she spoke. "You could use magic on him, couldn't you?" McGonagall asked, having seen the results for herself.

"I still don't understand why you told him to not defend himself, but yes, I scanned him for everything I could possibly think of." Poppy glanced at Harry. "I could barely get two spells to work on him before that, and everything else simply snapped back at me."

McGonagall frowned greatly as she watched Harry struggle to move again. Dumbledore didn't seem to notice as he asked Poppy, "Did you find anything wrong with him?"

Poppy shook her head as she put her wand away. "I did a full medical work up on him. He's a little underfed, but in perfectly good health. I'd even go so far to say that he has little chance of coming down with anything short of pneumonia."

"You may move again, Harry." McGonagall ordered, watching as Harry physically sagged.

"Can we get on with this?" Snape asked harshly, his patience running out. "We have yet to test the boy for his house, then we may adjourn to discuss what is actually going to be done with him."

Dumbledore frowned at Harry before nodding slowly. "I believe you are right, Severus. Minerva, if you would do the honors."

Accepting the Sorting Hat from Dumbledore, she fingered the felt the hat was made from before handing Harry the hat. "Place this hat on your head. It will sort through your mind to decide where you should be placed for your house. You will allow it to do its job, is that clear, Harry?"

Nodding quickly, Harry placed the hat on his head and tugged it down at the sides, holding it tightly to his head. The hat sat silently on Harry's head and the teachers standing before him waited quietly as the Sorting Hat sorted Harry. After nearly half an hour, the brim of the hat opened and declared in a clear voice. "None!"

McGonagall eye twitched, her suspicions confirmed.

"None?" Pomona Sprout boggled at the idea that a child could not be sorted. "There must be some kind of mistake. Every child has to have some bit in them that can fit them to their respective house."

The brim of the hat frowned as the top cone of it seemed to bend downward, as if they were eyebrows. "If you believe yourself able to sort him, then be my guest. Let's see how you like sitting down on his face and telling everyone exactly where he should be going?"

Pomona blushed profusely and looked to be building into a thunderhead of anger when Dumbledore waved his hand in a consoling gesture. "If you could be so kind as to enlighten us as to why he belongs in no house here at Hogwarts?"

The hat harrumphed as it drew itself up, the bend in front still showing clearly that it was upset.

"Let's start with Ms. 'I-can-do-it-better'." The hat snapped, waiting for the woman to interrupt it. When she didn't, the hat began to explain. "He has loyalty, a terrible amount of loyalty, but it's misplaced. He would follow anyone who would direct him like a puppet on a string, with no more thought to his well being or that of another person if he was ordered to ignore them."

"He has the drive to learn." This made the short man stand up straighter, a smile lighting his face up. "So much so that he would learn anything placed in front of him, be it the darkest known tome of magic to a simple book on how to make stones. Apparently, he had it impressed on him that if he was not educated, he would get others into trouble, which is the problem. Education may be the greatest tool in the world, but it is a tool he doesn't wish to wield for himself. Once again, he would learn simply because he was told to, not for his own benefit."

The hat practically spat next. "He has absolutely no cunning whatsoever. Oh, he has the potential for it, as much as he has the drive to be the greatest scholar the world has ever seen. He has absolutely no ambition to be powerful, or I should say, no ambition at all. Maybe some day he can learn to be Ambitious, but placing him in the viper's den will make him a tool faster than you can blink."

At last, the hat seemed to pivot toward McGonagall, and the ripple in the hat shifted up on one side, as if it knew she had already figured out what was being explained. "He has courage, but he is not courageous. He could stand and watch as a baby was killed just as much as he could throw himself off a cliff to save another person. He doesn't understand how to be a single person that others can lean on for aid when it is needed. He will simply do if told to."

The hat shifted back to Albus, who was looking very disturbed at the hat, or was that Harry under the hat. "In every instance, he could fit in every house. He has all the qualifications to be sorted to any one of them. The problem, however, comes from him having no desires. He is a person who exists because he exists, not because he wishes to exist."

McGonagall turned a frigid glare at Albus. "He's a house elf, in every sense of the word." Her flat voice made Dumbledore cringe at the tongue lashing he could already hear coming from her.

"Quite." The hat said before its mouth disappeared. It returned to being a simple hat that Harry held onto his head for dear life.

* * *

"_How could this have happened?"_ Albus asked himself as he paced in the Headmaster's office, the four heads of house arguing amongst themselves as to who would receive Harry. Well, two of them were pleading him to accept Harry into their house. McGonagall hadn't said a word since leaving the medical ward, the glare she was favoring Albus with was all the guilt he needed. Severus had been arguing, but for the exact opposite reasons.

"He doesn't belong in Slytherin." The greasy teacher snapped as he made a dismissive gesture. "Place him in any house but mine. My house would eat him alive."

Dumbledore could feel the migraine building in the back of his eyes as he slumped down into his chair behind the only desk in the room. Something had gone wrong, terribly wrong if Harry was acting like a house elf. As his guardian, it was his duty to make sure that Harry grew up as a normal wizard child. Sorting through the few notes he had on Harry, he came across one piece of parchment that had been sent to him years ago from Amelia Bones, head of the wizarding police force.

"No offense, Filius, but Harry needs to be cared for, and Hufflepuff is the perfect house for that." Pomona Sprout chided the short wizard, whose nose was starting to turn slightly red in aggravation.

"Nonsense, you heard the Sorting Hat." The little man said. "He would become the greatest literary mind in all the wizarding world. To leave his mind uncultivated like that would be a travesty! I'll personally mentor him myself if I must!"

"You know what this means, Albus." McGonagall spoke calmly, observing the irritation that Severus was going through, the aggravation that Filius was displaying, and the assuredness that Pomona was calmly emanating. "Should the Sorting Hat fail to sort a student..."

Dumbledore nodded slowly, already knowing what McGonagall was about to say. "Should the hat fail to sort a student, that student must join all houses." The blessed silence from that piece of knowledge stopped the arguing for a moment as all the heads of house stared in various states at him. Severus pre-empted any comments with one of his own.

"This is an outrage!" He shrilled as he leapt from his seat to stand in rigid anger. "How is it that Potter of all students be exempt from..."

"I know what you are going to say, Severus." Dumbledore waved to calm the man as he sat upright in his chair. "A child bound to no house is exempt from the house point system. However, during the original founding of Hogwarts before the Sorting Hat was made, there was one student, much like young Harry, who could not be sorted into any one house. As such, the hat was made to prevent such an occurrence from happening again and the student was given a customized spell attuned to Hogwarts herself to make any points the student gained or lost for that day to be in effect for the house he was in.

"In essence," Dumbledore continued, "The robes and clothing were fringed with the house that Harry will be sleeping in for the night, making him a part of that house point system for the day until he slept in different quarters for that night."

"It will mean a different schedule from everyone else." Filius mused as he thought to himself. "Normally, the students take classes by house, but with a student who can move from house to house freely..."

"I object to this." Severus vibrated, the scowl growing on his face. "To be allowed access to all of our houses will invite dissension within every house. You are asking me to place a spy amongst my very own students."

"Our students." McGonagall sniped, drawing Snape's ire. "Your students could very well turn Harry into their own errand boy or worse. The very thought of someone using him for dirty tricks and deeds, we'd be punishing him for other people's malicious intents."

"Which means," Dumbledore raised his hands, stopping the argument from growing. "that Harry will have to be instructed, for his own safety, to not ally himself to any one person."

"That's not very fair to Harry." Pomona sniffed as she straightened in her seat. "A student needs to learn for themselves from their mistakes, and make friends where they can find them. To deny Harry to not seek these kinds of people out for himself is to deny him his youth."

"I agree." McGonagall nodded to Pomona before turning her gaze on the rest of the room. "We shouldn't interfere with Harry's life anymore than is necessary, and we should only step in when he is doing something wrong."

"I will draw up a schedule for Harry that will mix him with the other students of each house daily, so that there are no favorites amongst houses." Dumbledore sat up, drawing confidence around him like a cloak. "For tonight, Harry will be in Pomona's care, and will be moved house to house for the first month to acquaint himself with all the houses. The order will be the table arrangements in the Great Hall, moving from farthest right to left and repeating." Waiting for the head's to accept this bit of wisdom, Dumbledore took a lemon drop from a nearby dish and plopped it into his mouth to help him think. "In the meantime, I will be tracking down events in Harry's past that may have been involved with him becoming the boy he is now. Maybe there was something overlooked that was not brought to my attention that was of crucial importance to his development."

Filius and Pomona got up from their seats and headed from the headmaster's room, Filius looking a bit put out while Pomona was nearly bouncing on her toes as she left the room. Snape and McGonagall stayed behind and waited for the door to close before eying one another.

"Is this wise, Sir?" Snape asked, looking nervous for the first time since they had seen Harry for the first time in the hall.

"Until we know exactly what went wrong, we cannot do anything without their being gaping repercussions." Dumbledore sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Until these can be straightened out, Harry must be placed in every house. Try to keep an eye on him, Severus. Something very wrong is happening, and I fear Harry is already involved."

* * *

Sleeping in Hufflepuff had been nice. Harry had begun to wonder if the adults had left to confer about his punishment for his magic reacting so badly to everyone. He was thankful to the woman with the glasses to figure out to direct Harry. He'd found that there had been times when things would happen to him that he couldn't stop, like when his cousin, Dudley, had thrown stones at him to show how tough he was to his friends. When the stones had flipped around in mid throw and threw themselves harder back at Dudley, he had rushed straight home to Petunia, who had looked like she was going to faint afterwards.

He had stayed around the Dursley's house after that, at Petunia's suggestion, of course.

Still, being placed in a room with three other boys had been a bit disconcerting for Harry, and after the lady, Professor Pomona Sprout, had closed the door behind herself, Harry waited just long enough to assure that the head of house had gone off to her rooms before sneaking out of bed and headed back into the common room. Finding a comfortable out of the way of any foot traffic, Harry curled up with the blanket from his trunk and had promptly fell asleep.

Waking before the sun rose, Harry stretched lightly and looked around the common room in interest. The whole room was bathed in the tan's and gold of the head of house's robes, even the furniture was smothered in the colors, with various badgers stitched into the seat backs and pillows. The place gave off an air of warmth and welcome to anyone who would come into the room from the tapestry that blocked the entrance to the common room from the rest of the school.

Taking the time to go back and place his blanket back inside his trunk, Harry came back down to the common room and began to head out of the common room when he heard the sound of feet behind him. He glanced back at a girl with reddish hints in her brown hair and smiled at her as she stopped, staring at him with a strange look on her face. Waving once to her, he headed out of the common room and into the castle beyond.

He wandered around the castle for a time, staring at all the colors that flitted through the castle and even the stones behind some of the paintings, pulsing in time to some orchestra as they moved onward throughout the castle. Climbing ever higher until he found himself in a tower, he kept going toward the sounds of rustling wings until he found himself in the school owlery.

He stared upwards at all the owls who were perched on several crossbeams, branches from severed limbs, and even the occasional chair back that was magically suspended in the air for the owls. The colors and the sizes of the birds put Harry in awe. He'd never seen so many birds sitting quietly amongst each other, with no pattern, reason, or rhyme as to why they were sitting together or not at all. He would have continued to stare at the menagerie of avian wildlife if not for a snowy white owl lofting itself from its perch and flying down toward him.

His arm came out reflexively as the bird came closer to him and the familiar weight of Hedwig made itself obvious as she landed high on his arm by his shoulder. Smiling at his snow white owl, he touched her feathers softly as she preened herself before she turned to look him in the eye.

"Good morning, Hedwig." Harry spoke quietly, glancing up at the sound of ruffling feathers. "Are you ready for breakfast?"

Hedwig chirruped and bobbed her head before taking a higher place on Harry's small body. Turning around, Harry made his way carefully down the stairs, making sure not to jostle Hedwig too much as he continued to talk to her. "Freak hasn't found the dining room yet. Freak is sorry..."

Hedwig nipped at his ear in admonishment and made several clacking noises with her beak, punctuated by a few peeps and hoots. Petunia had once told him that she'd never seen an owl actually peep before, though that was quickly ignored as Hedwig had given her a glare that had unsettled her.

"Freak understands." Harry mumbled, ashamed by whatever Hedwig had said to him. "Does Hedwig know where the dining room is?"

A few moments later, Harry was on his way as Hedwig began giving directions to the boy.

* * *

"I swear to you, I saw him this morning in our common room." Susan Bones spoke quickly as she tried to get her point across while gesturing madly with her arms. Apparently, Hufflepuff didn't understand the eloquent language of 'Mad Flailing'.

"You really saw Harry Potter in our common room?" The young, pigtailed Hannah Abbott asked as the rest of the Hufflepuff breakfast table looked at the frantic first year, who was making herself more and more disheveled. "Does that mean he's a Hufflepuff?" Although some of the more level headed Puffs shook their heads at the little first year, the whispers along her table and that of the rest of the Great Hall was about the Boy-who-Lived being a Puff.

Susan wasn't one who normally went in for gossip, and being the basis for gossip made her even more embarrassed. She was normally a good child, raised mostly by her aunt Amelia when her parents were killed off in a Death Eater attack, she would have considered herself a paragon of balance and levelheadedness. She was about to try and defend herself when the voices of the Great Hall quieted down and all heads turned to the boy standing at the doorstep of the common room, a white owl riding his shoulder.

Harry scratched at his wild, unkempt hair and readjusted his glasses in nervousness. He'd never been stared at by so many people in his life. Unsure where he should be sitting at, he continued to peer around in confusion until a familiar boy jostled him by accident, in a rush to get to the food than anyone else.

Hedwig hopped off Harry's shoulder as he was roughly bumped, losing her balance on her perch. She hissed as she took to the air, circling once around the Great Hall before coming back to Harry, whose arm snapped up almost like instinct as Harry continued to track the boy who had brushed by him. Harry watched as the slightly familiar boy headed along one of the inner tables before sitting himself down about halfway down one of the tables in front of a plate, where upon sitting, the plate filled with breakfast foods.

Following the boy over to the table he had sat at, he took a seat next to the boy, watching as his plate shimmered briefly before filling with food. Harry blinked at the table before peering under it, inspecting the wood of the table briefly before he lifted his plate experimentally, and peered at the tabletop. The boy next to him stopped filling himself long enough to glance over at the stranger, who was more interested in examining the table than eating, and nearly choked as a big white owl stared death at him.

Unable to figure out how the plate filled with food, Harry glanced up at the roof. That the sky was able to be seen where there shouldn't have been able to be sky seen at didn't bother his logic center in the least. Shrugging, he proceeded to try to feed Hedwig, who was still busy staring at the freckle faced boy.

"Um..." Ron Weasley continued to lock eyes with the bird, afraid that he was about to get attacked, or at least mauled severely. "D'you mind movin the bird?"

"Hedwig." Harry offered in his hand several small pieces of sliced sausage to his friend. "It's breakfast time. We can make friends later."

Hedwig's eyes seemed to narrow, though how an owl's eyes narrowed, Ron wouldn't be able to explain. He still had the sensation that the owl was very pissed off at him, though. Waiting a few more moments before deciding to hide under the table, Hedwig turned from glaring a hole through Ron and began to eat the pieces of meat being offered to her by Harry.

"Oy," Ron shifted away from the avian menace as he noticed who was holding it. "You're Harry Potter. Are you in Gryffindor?"

Harry glanced around Hedwig, not really noticing his friend turning her head to give Ron a death glare again. Seeing the boy face on, he remembered that this was the boy he had ridden in the train with, Ron something-or-other. "Gryffindor, Sir?"

"You know, the Sorting Hat." Ron gestured to his head with a vague hand motion, making sure to count his fingers as Hedwig snapped at him when his hand came too close. "It placed you in Gryffindor, right? I mean, you are sitting at Gryffindor's table, ya know."

Harry scooped a forkful of scrambled eggs in his mouth as he thought silently. "Does Gryffindor have golden badgers in its common room?"

Ron blinked at him in confusion. "That's Hufflepuff, mate. You should be sitting with the other Hufflepuffs at their table." Ron turned slightly and pointed over at the far table.

"Oh." Harry blinked as he looked down at his plate before shrugging and placed his silverware on his plate. "C'mon, Hedwig." Moving his arm so that Hedwig could settle back onto his shoulder, Harry got up carefully, making sure to grab his plate full of food and take it with him. He didn't notice as Hedwig continued to give Ron a death glare as only owls could.

Shivering, Ron shook his head, thankful that Harry Potter wasn't in Gryffindor with him.

Harry was just taking a seat at the end of Hufflepuff's table when Professor Sprout came in the room, glancing around once before walking straight over to Harry. "Good morning, Harry. Has your morning been a good one so far?" She gave him a bright, motherly smile that Harry returned to her.

"Harry has been having a good day." He found a napkin he could use to wipe his mouth with before he continued. "Harry was able to find Hedwig this morning and was just enjoying breakfast. Harry did make a mistake when sitting at the wrong table, will Harry have to be punished?"

The sudden head turn on the owl that had found an immediate dislike of Pomona disturbed her slightly. "Uh...No, Harry. You're a special case, as you're in every house. You could sit at whatever table you wanted without getting in trouble." That the owl seemed to have nodded slowly at her disturbed her even more. "Anyways, I was instructed by the Headmaster to hand you your schedule personally."

Hedwig opened her beak up as the hand approached her, eying the fingers attached to it with an evil gaze. Professor Sprout kept her hand out of Hedwig's reach, waiting for Harry to take the parchment from it so that she wouldn't have to defend herself from the obviously territorial bird. Harry took the scroll and opened it up, glancing at the courses he was going to be taking and the times for each course.

"Because you're in multiple courses with different houses, we've had to make you a special schedule." Pomona explained as her table listened attentively, eying Harry as he kept reading over his schedule. "At the end of the day, Professor Flitwick, the charms teacher will come for you and escort you to Ravenclaw for the night. The next day, Professor McGonagall, the transfigurations teacher will pick you up to take you to Gryffindor, and the next day will be Professor Snape, the potions teacher who will escort you to Slytherin. Once you have gotten used to being in Hogwarts, you'll no longer be required to wait for a teacher escort to go back to the common rooms, however, there is still the matter of the curfew which you must adhere to, understand?"

"Freak understands..." Harry nodded, not noticing the eye twitch as Harry forgot to use his name. "How is Harry to get to classes?"

Pomona eyed Harry for a moment, concerned at the mental slip Harry had. "The Prefects have been informed to your special circumstances and have been given special leniency to aid you in getting to your next class. Should a Prefect forget, the Professor themselves will escort you to your next class." She'd have a stern talking to any Prefect who forgot about one of _her_ Puffs.

"Professor Sprout, Ma'am." Harry suddenly spoke, a pensive look on his face. "Will Harry be able to take Hedwig with him to class?"

Pomona eyed the owl carefully. "I'm afraid not. We're supposed to teach you and we can't do that adequately if the spells we're trying to impart to you accidentally hurt your friend." Not to mention that any pet in class was usually a distraction.

Harry paled before nodding emphatically. "Harry wouldn't want Hedwig to be hurt. Harry understands."

* * *

The first week of school had been interesting for Harry. From the classes to the children standing in the halls and pointing at him as the Prefects walked him from class to class and even to the common rooms of the other three houses, Harry was awed by it all. Professor Flitwick, during charms class, was always in a tizzy when explaining the practical applications of a properly used charm and making sure that Harry was keeping up with everyone. The Ravenclaws in class with him watched him with calculating looks, especially the black haired, chocolate skinned girl named Padma, that he had been seated with.

Herbology with Professor Sprout was another class that turned out well for him. The other Hufflepuffs and the Gryffindors that he was with listened and took notes as she explained how to identify some of the easier to identify plants and their uses. The girl in particular, Hermione Granger, seemed to be able to answer every question posed, which really impressed Harry.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was unusual, and left Harry with an unsettled feeling. The strange Professor Quirrel wore a turban at all times, and smelled strongly of garlic. Rumors were that he was deathly afraid of vampires, and that he had nearly lost his life to one in Albania. Seamus Finnigan, a Gryffindor student, tried to ask Quirrel about those rumors, but never got a very straight answer.

Professor McGonagall ignored Harry, or at least, as mush as any other student. She had come in from her office at the back of the room, briefly told her students that they would respect transfigurations, or they would be banned from ever taking the course ever. Once it had sunk in to all her students how serious she was, she turned and changed her desk into a pig. Harry's eyes had hurt briefly from the magic as it metamorphosed a non-living object into a living one, but he quickly banished the spots from his eyes.

When it came time for potions, however, is when all his good luck had abandoned him. It was during a Slytherin/Gryffindor class, the first of the season. He had sat down next to Neville, who thanked him once again for helping him out on the train with Trevor, when the door leading back out into the school opened dramatically and Professor Snape billowed into the room, his robes flapping around him as if he were wearing a cloak before taking up his place behind his desk. He glanced over his class with a disdainful look, making sure to stare at Harry a little longer than necessary before beginning the lessons.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses..." Snape looked like he was having the greatest moment of his life as he explained this to the students. "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Harry watched closely at every movement Professor Snape made, though Neville looked like he was about to wet himself in fear. The bushy haired girl, Hermione, looked like she was on the edge of her seat and about to throw herself down in front of Professor Snape to worship his greatness if the needy gleam in her eye meant anything.

"Potter!" Snape snapped, and Neville physically jumped in his seat next to Harry. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"The Draught of Living Death, Professor Sir!" Harry announced happily, though Hermione looked disappointed as her hand came down.

Snape considered Harry a moment, the room slightly quiet if you ignored the rustling sounds of robes. "Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Hermione's hand snapped into the air again, but disappointment and a bit of envy replaced her face as Harry answered "The stomach of a goat, Professor Sir!"

A snicker slipped from Seamus Finnigan that made Snape's eyes narrow in annoyance before he tried one last time. "Potter, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Harry blinked. Tilting his head from one side to the other, the look of confusion was plain on his face even though Hermione was nearly on her feet as she tried to make her arm grow just by wanting it to, in hopes of being able to give the right answer for a change. Stumped, Harry finally responded to the smirk on Snape's face. "Freak doesn't know..."

The class either snickered at Harry's slip, or looked at him strangely. Even Snape's smirk dropped at Harry's announcement. Hermione had dropped her hand to stare in confusion at Harry, which just made him feel more self conscious.

"The answer is that they are the same plant, Mr. Potter." Professor Snape answered before glaring at the entire room, who were still looking between him and Harry. "Well? You should be writing this down!"

Things continued to go badly as they moved on to potion making. Pairing them up amongst each other, by Snape's list, Harry was placed with the raven haired girl in the glass who was from Slytherin, Ms. Parkinson. Neville, the basket case of nerves he already had been, had melted a cauldron into a mess, the caustic potion had spilled out and forced all but Harry onto their stools or lose their shoes from the burning, and had managed to splash himself with it. The boils that were springing up all over him was not what the potion was supposed to do.

The spill was banished with a flash of magic that blinded Harry for a moment before Seamus took hold of Neville and escorted him out of class and towards the infirmary.

"Harry, stop." Pansy's voice caused Harry to freeze as he was about to add the porcupine needles. "You were about to do the same thing that Neville did. Do you even listen to anything anyone says?" She waited, staring a cold gaze at Harry. "You will answer me, Potter."

"Harry didn't mean to make a mistake." Harry all but whimpered.

"Then you should be doing it correctly from the start." Pansy sneered at Potter. "Remove the cauldron from the fire, then add the porcupine needles to the potion."

Harry moved immediately to do as ordered, following Pansy's orders to the letter before stepping back and waiting for her to punish him. He girl stepped down from her stool and checked the brew before stirring it once, slowly in a counterclockwise motion. Making sure not to tap the wooden ladle used against the side of the cauldron, she took one potion jar from a nearby rack and filled the jar carefully before capping it off.

Thrusting the jar in front of Harry, she eyed him as he didn't move to take the jar from her. Her eyes narrowed as she hissed, "Take this and turn it in to Professor Snape, Potter." She watched as Harry nearly wrenched the jar from her hand and began to run to the front of the classroom. "Walk, Potter!" She hissed after him again and watched as Harry's headlong gait abruptly shortened, nearly throwing the boy over himself as his speed was forcibly stopped.

She waited and watched as Harry came back to her before presenting himself in front of Pansy. "Freak has been bad. Freak needs punished..."

Pansy watched him carefully, his body mannerism, his eyes, and the way he inflected his words. She was beginning to suspect that something was wrong with Potter, something that might gain her something in the long run if she could figure it out. It was almost as if...

The sound of a bell pealed through the school, distracting her from her thoughts. Professor Snape was giving them a brief order about reviewing something in their book that she was only half listening to, but filing away for later for when she could focus on it properly. Harry twitched under her gaze as the students pushed by him.

"We will discuss your punishment later." Pansy spoke quietly for only her and Harry's ears. "You are staying in Slytherin tonight, yes?" Harry nodded quickly. "You will find me in the common room after school is let out today. Make sure you are there, or there will be a greater punishment waiting for you."

"Yes, Ms. Parkinson, Ma'am." Harry grabbed his bag and bolted off for his next class, forgetting to wait for the Prefect.

* * *

Pansy paced in the semi circle of seats around her, the few furnishings of Slytherin's common room arrayed in a semi circle to face the only fireplace in the cold stone room. That the stones of the room gave a sort of snake like appearance with both color and shimmering, she wondered if the symbolism was supposed to be of a snake's den, or something altogether.

She had made inroads with a few of the girls her own age quickly. Daphne Greengrass was the daughter of a wealthy merchant family, and was very hard to pull something over. If you came right out and told her what you wanted to do, the price was usually less in the long run, though you had to watch yourself with her. She sat to Pansy's right in an arm back chair, her five four foot nine frame all but imposing.

Tracey Davis was a little harder to nail down. Her family wasn't rich or noble as many of those who lived in Slytherin were, but they knew the law better than anyone else did. It had taken the finagling of the Davis family to keep a few of purebloods families from a trip to Azkaban instead of paying off fines. She lazed on the couch, legs draped across it as she took up the full length of the furniture, an emery board in her hands.

Millicent Bulstrode wasn't officially part of Pansy's group, though that was deliberate. It was whispered in dark rooms how the Bulstrode family was part giant, which was frowned upon by those who believed in blood purity. Of course, mention this to anyone of Bulstrode stock, and you usually never got to walk away with your knee caps ever again. Which makes for uncomfortable walking. She sat in the other chair on Pansy's left, her largish frame at a near five foot six inches took up most of the room in the chair, her face buried in her book for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

"He's late." The brown haired, green eyed Davis drawled as she checked her nails once again. It was after dinner, and they were waiting in the common room of Slytherin for Harry to show.

Pansy's eyes twitched as she paced. She should have told Harry to come back immediately instead of sitting there with that creepy white owl of his. Still, making her wait would put her in the right mind to see what the deal was with the boy anyways. She had caught him sleeping in the common room near the fireplace the very first night he had been introduced into Slytherin, and had thought it strange for the boy to be sleeping out in the open, strange yet intriguing.

After finding out that she had been holding his hand before the sorting, her first instinct had been to find a potion strong enough to clean her hand off, but after seeing him act the idiot, she wasn't sure what to think. Oh, yes, he was the reason the Dark Lord had been defeated and the Death Eaters had fallen from prominence to thugs with brutish tactics if at all, but to see him acting as if he was a servant...

Seeing Harry enter into the Slytherin common room from the entranceway back into the castle, Pansy stopped her pacing. Millicent drew herself up slightly when Potter came into her view and Davis glanced up long enough to stare at Harry, though she went back to properly taking care of her beauty once again. Daphne was still busy looking over her homework, writing down answers as she went.

"You summoned, Ms. Parkinson, Ma'am?" Harry spoke as he smiled happily into the scowling visage of Pansy.

She made no motion for a moment, eying Harry carefully before choosing her words. "Yes, I did summon you, though for the life of me, I can't imagine why I thought it was so important..."

Harry blinked at her in confusion, his smile dropping. Wracking his brain momentarily, Harry tentatively asked, "Was it because of Potions, Ms. Parkinson, Ma'am? Is Freak to be punished?"

Daphne stopped her writing for a moment, glancing up to Harry and Pansy as a cruel smile began to grave the raven haired girls face. Even Tracey's hand slowed for a second as she re-evaluated Pansy and Harry before going back to filing her fingernails.

"Why do you call yourself Freak, Harry." Harry's eyes widened minutely, and Pansy caught it as she began to crow inside. "Is there something you've neglected to tell me?"

Harry fidgeted in place as he began to mutter under his breath. "Freak has been bad, Freak wasn't supposed to say that name. Freak is in trouble..."

Narrowing her eyes with a Cheshire grin, Pansy snapped out with a sharp, "Freak!" Having Harry stand upright and lock into place made her want to dance in glee. "Answer me this minute!"

Harry didn't hesitate as he began to answer her. "Freak was told by Freak's aunt that Freak shouldn't use that name outside of Freak's home, Ms. Parkinson Ma'am. Freak was told to use Harry as it is Freak's name in public. Freak forgets sometimes."

"Pansy." Daphne muttered, barely getting her attention. Pansy eyed the hazel eyes of Daphne as she jerked her head toward the entrance of Slytherin's house. Glancing over, Pansy saw Malfoy had just entered with his two thugs, Crabbe and Goyle, and were making their way over towards them.

"Right." Pansy muttered as she glanced at Harry. "Freak, when we are done here, you will come with us to my room. You will not use that name in front of Malfoy, is that understood?"

"Yes, Ms. Parkinson, Ma'am." Harry mumbled as he peered down at his toes, fiddling with his clasped fingers in front of himself.

"Well, well, the great Harry Potter graces us with his presence." Malfoy announced to all of house Slytherin as he gestured grandly, preening to the room. "To what do we owe the honor, Potter? Come to rub elbows with your betters?"

Harry shook his head silently, head bowed to Malfoy.

"It's good that you show the proper respect for your betters, Potter. You'll go far that way." Malfoy glanced over the girls briefly, eying Pansy. "You're the girl who was holding Potter's hand at the sorting." Pansy didn't move as he gave her a considering look. "Our little boy Potty isn't bothering you again, is he? Or maybe..."

"I was actually going to put him to use doing my work for me." Pansy interrupted Malfoy before the boy started slanderous talk. "If he's going to be able to walk into any House he wants freely, then I could find a use for that kind of ability. Getting him to take my work with him and getting help from those who are bookish would be the perfect use for him."

Malfoy considered Harry for a second, as if the thought intrigued him. "You do have a point. Maybe getting him to do stuff for us would be beneficial in the long run."

"If it works, I'll see about getting him to help you out as well." Pansy smirked at the indignant look on Malfoy's face.

"Do you honestly think I would need help from Potter of all people?" He glanced back to Potter before sniffing disdainfully. "Do what you want with him. I have my own plans for him." Malfoy left quickly, followed by his two shadows.

"That's playing with fire, Pansy." Tracey spoke calmly as she put her emery board away, sliding it into a small leather satchel at her hip. She glanced at the back of Malfoy and his boys as Millicent rose from her seat and walked over to them all.

"Better to put a line between Potter and Malfoy now than to have them arm in arm later." Pansy said calmly as she followed the boys with her eyes til they turned into the boys quarters. "I like to have some options open in case the Dark Lord returns. Being Malfoy's hanger on isn't something I'd appreciate, but I may have to play that card at some point in time."

"And Potter?" Millicent spoke for the first time, a heavy dulcet, but still very feminine. She stood over even Harry by a few inches as her brown locks framed her face.

"Yes, what about Potter?" Pansy said as her gaze swept over the contrite boy. He stood as meek as milk water, yet continued to wait for what he knew was going to be trouble for him. "Daphne, can you draw up a magical contract?"

"Maybe with Tracey's help, I could, but it wouldn't be official until you could file it at Gringott's, and even then, you'd have to turn it in yourself. They don't accept contracts that you mail to them." Daphne glanced over to Tracey, who nodded to her, before looking back at Pansy. The raven haired girl was still giving Harry the eye.

Pansy considered for a moment before speaking. "Potter." She spoke calmly, yet quietly enough not to draw attention to them. "You've done wrong in my presence, which I will not permit. It shames me to be around you when you do, which I will not stand for." Harry winced but she didn't stop for a second. "While you are in Slytherin house, you are my property, and when the contract is finished, I will have you sign it as proof that you are mine to do with as I see fit. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Ms. Parkinson, Ma'am." Harry spoke quietly, yet respectfully to the girl.

"If the Professors find out about this, there'll be hell to pay." Millicent commented the obvious, her tone neutral.

"It's not a contract unless it's filed at Gringott's. All this will be is an agreement between me and Potter." Pansy smirked as her eyes lit with glee. "Should he fail to follow through with his side of the contract, we can show everyone that he is a liar."

Tracey was about to say how bad an idea that was when Harry spoke over her quickly. "Freak will be good. Freak will not bring shame to Ms. Parkinson Ma'am. Freak will sign anything Ms. Parkinson Ma'am wants Freak to."

Pansy took a seat next to Tracey, who had moved her legs from the couch to give Pansy room. Harry knelt down next to Pansy, looking pleadingly up at her with eyes nearly filled with tears.

"What do we get out of it?" Daphne asked, eying Potter strangely. "Students don't have much money, and even so, payment like this is going to be high for the amount of trouble we could get into."

"Hhmmm," Pansy knew this was going to cost, but maybe there was a way she could get her money's worth out of Potter. "How would you like to use Potter? He could be our own little servant."

* * *

**I know what you're going to say, and yes, normally Harry would have been placed in Hufflepuff, but if he's a true House Elf without a master, I would think that he would be looking for someone who would accept his servitude, which means he'll befriend anyone and everyone just to find that person. Also, I've always wanted to see a hostile Hedwig, cause personally, Hedwig is smarter than most people have given her credit for. She's a wizard's pet, and all those pets are somewhat sentient. Just look at Trevor...**


	4. Chapter 4

**College sucks. I don't suggest doing it, unless it's a vocational college where you spend a minimum of 12 hours a week on campus and take the vendor's exams right there.**

**It took a long while for me to finish up anything, but now that I have this finished, I hope I can get back into the swing of things. Kami knows, you waited long enough for this...**

**Disclaimer: I know it doesn't help that I say I'm sorry, but I'll say it anyways...  
**

* * *

Living in Slytherin house was almost like being at home, except there was less to clean. It bothered him a bit that every time he came back to clean the furniture or that of the fireplace, the areas he was coming back to clean had been cleaned during the time he had went to find a cleaning rag and water. Fortunately, Pansy and her friends had been keeping Harry somewhat distracted by having him do things for them.

Millicent had him help her to relax with a foot massage every now and then. He would get laughed at every time someone in Slytherin would watch him rub the feet and ankles of the larger girl while in the common room, and it had only taken the one time for her to tell him to ignore them for him to calm down.

Daphne and Tracey used him for information gathering. Sometimes they sent him out to ask the teachers for assistance with his studies, which they all appeared to be willing to spend time with the boy due to his demeanor. Potions still seemed like the one place he was having the most trouble and they each did the best they could while checking over their own work, while Harry struggled along as he could.

Pansy was the one constant that made things better in Slytherin. Having him learn how to properly be a servant, she was his Uncle Vernon except she was much prettier and a lot nicer. The vellum they had given him to sign had only crossed his mind the one time, but since then, she had begun to teach him to take care of not only herself, but himself as well.

"I won't have a useless servant." Pansy had told him in a no nonsense voice. "You will learn how to be useful, or I will have to find a way to make you useful."

Strangely enough, Pansy tried to keep him away from Draco as often as she could, which didn't make much sense to him.

He glanced over to Draco and his two friends, Crabbe and Goyle, as they were headed out of the castle for a new class, a broom class. Harry frowned as they walked past the main doors of Hogwarts castle and off to the side instead of staying on the path that looked to lead down to a small hamlet. He didn't understand, if it was a broom class, weren't they supposed to have it inside a building? How were they supposed to clean anything outside?

The class approached a middling age woman holding a broom in front of rows of several other brooms lying on the ground in front of her. "Hurry up, class. We have a lot to go over and your lessons don't wait forever."

Some of the students approached and stood by brooms in the first row whereas many of the unsure ones stepped around the cleaning objects on the ground. Harry smiled brightly as he made his way over to one of the brooms and made to reach for it, the broom slapping up into his hand on its own. Harry's smile grew larger as he realized what he was holding in his hands. A broom that wanted to clean as much as he did.

"Welcome to your first lessons into a brand new world of wizarding and witch magic." The Professor called to all of them. "For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, then welcome to Broom Riding. I am Madam Hooch."

Harry blinked. Looking at his broom, he frowned at it.

"Everyone, please take a place next to a broom and...? Mr. Potter. Please let go of your broom, if you will." The Professor had singled him out as he continued to hold onto his broom, now holding it out away from his body.

Harry opened his hand automatically, the need to comply with his teacher making his body react. Unfortunately, the broom refused to drop from his hand, as if it were glued to his skin. Harry blinked at the broom, tentatively shaking his hand to try and get the broom to fall.

Walking over to the young Harry, the teacher watched him for a second before she removed her wand from her robes and pointed it at Harry's hand and the broom. "Finite Incantatem." The magic leapt from her wand tip before hitting something above the hand and snapped back at her, smacking her wand out of her hand.

Harry blinked at his teacher as her gray hair and age lines disappeared for a moment showing a younger lady standing in place of the teacher. The short, almost spiky hair of Madam Hooch turned a brilliant chocolate brown and her skin took on a deeper, sleeker windswept clarity to it before she could reach for the badge on her robe and give it a quick twist.

Ducking down, Harry blinked as what looked like water rippled around the Professor as she picked up her wand. When she stood back up, she was back to looking the old teacher that she had first appeared as.

"Interesting." Madam Hooch muttered as she eyed Harry. "They told me that you could do that." Harry blushed at her, looking sad as the teacher shook her head. "In any event, listen and do what I say, Harry."

Harry nodded as he looked at the back of the Professor as she walked back in front of the class.

"Students, raise your hand overtop of the broom laying on the ground and firmly say 'Up'!" Madam Hooch called to the class, watching the students carefully.

Many of the students were able to get the broom to leap up into their hands instantly, though Neville's wobbled slowly up into his hand. Hermione's simply flopped where it was, giving a sickly little hop up from the ground. She frowned at the broom and commanded it to jump up again, only for the broom to roll over on her.

She was about to reach down and pick it up when Harry spoke to her. "Ms. Hermione, ma'am." Harry whispered, the girl hitching and standing back up to turn and look at Harry. "Harry thinks the broom is sick. You shouldn't use it."

"Ms. Granger. Is something wrong there?" Madam Hooch called to the ginger haired girl.

Glancing to Harry, Hermione frowned. "No, Professor. Just having trouble with my broom is all." She glanced at Harry once more, a frown on her face, as she commanded firmly, "Up!" The handle of the broom snapped upward from the command, the bristle end unwilling to rise, making the broom careen back from her and into Harry, who rolled backwards with the broom.

Madam Hooch came over and picked up the broom that had collided into Harry from Hermione's simple command. Giving it a quick inspection with her eye, she ran several spells over the broom before glancing curiously at Hermione. Placing the broom down on the ground, she commanded simply, "Up."

With controlled precision, the broom levitated into the air in a gradual ascent from the ground until Madam Hooch took hold of it. Frowning, she handed the broom to Hermione as Harry got to his feet, a knot forming on his head.

"We're going to have to practice that some, I see." Madam Hooch commented, earning a few snickers that made Hermione blush in shame. Checking Harry, who was smiling up at Madam Hooch, she walked back to the head of the class. "Everyone, take one leg and climb onto your broom in a light stance, make sure you're comfortable, because as soon as I command you to kick up, you'll be sitting on that broom underneath you." Several of the students readjusted themselves over their broom, Hermione looking a bit more nervous as she realized what was about to happen next.

"Now, on my command..." Madam Hooch directed, gathering her students attention. "Three, Two, One... Kick off!"

The class of first years pushed off, lifting up into the air wobbly on their first ever broom ride. Hermione, after having trouble with her broom, only pushed off a bare minimum to get her feet up above the ground. Draco had pushed off and was looking to gain height quickly, though without looking like he already knew what he was doing. Apparently, no one was allowed to fly a broom until the school certified them, so knowing how to handle yourself on one before being taught was a no-no.

Ron wouldn't allow Malfoy to show anyone from Gryffindor up and was rising as high as the blond student, though a lot more unsteady with his ascent. Pansy watched the two boys with a mild disdain, shaking her head at their antics.

Daphne was doing as well as your average student, though she was glaring at her broom more than anyone else was. As if the thing had personally affronted her, she had a deathgrip on the handle, her knuckles white with the strain. Tracey was finding her broom just as troublesome if the slow pivot her broom was going through was any indication. Her feet kicked feebly as it spun in place to the left, and the broom didn't seem to mind that the girl was struggling to get it under control.

"Harry?" Madam Hooch called to him. "You need to get on your broom."

Those who could look without losing their balance looked down at Harry. Sitting on the grass, he was dismantling the bristles from the broom and had pulled a ball of twine from somewhere on his robes. His hands were fully involved with rebinding the broom bristles to the handle, his eyes locked on his task.

"Harry will join them shortly." Harry spoke happily as he spun the twine around the bottom of the broom, pulling on it from time to time to keep the tension tight on the bristles so they wouldn't slip free.

"Neville! Don't go up there!" Hermione called, drawing the attention from Harry to poor Neville as he continued to rise and rise into the air. The fear on his face and his frantic jerking on his broom attested to how scared he was.

"Push forward, Mr. Longbottom!" Madam Hooch called up to the boy as she mounted her own broom and kicked off, rising quickly to catch the boy.

The broom did one too many violent shifts underneath him and Neville fell from the broom, past Madam Hooch who had reached out to grab him as he passed. Twisting in the air and turning into a dive, Madam Hooch raced to catch her student who had fallen from too high a point to survive meeting the ground. She was reaching for her wand to cast a charm as Harry looked up and frowned at the falling duo.

Pointing toward where Neville was about to hit the ground, light leapt from Harry's fingertip and struck the ground a second before Neville hit it with a sickening crunch. Madam Hooch pulled up and jumped from her broom, rolling Neville over carefully and checking him to see if she could save the poor boy long enough to get him to Pomfrey.

Amazingly, Neville was still alive. She checked him carefully, Neville's good hand gripping his broken left arm as tears rolled down his face. Glancing over to Harry, Madam Hooch observed the blissfully smiling Harry going back to work as if nothing had happened.

"Broken wrist." Madam Hooch announced, looking up at the rest of her students. "All of you, come down from up there. I have to take Neville to Madam Pomfrey, and I don't want to see any one of you on your brooms without supervision. Is that understood?"

She waited until the students had come down from out of the air before helping Neville to his feet and walking him back into the school.

"Unlucky, that." Ron muttered, shivering slightly.

"Do you think someone jinxed the broom?" Millicent muttered as she looked up into the air to the still rising broom as it disappeared into the clouds above.

"I think it's the brooms themselves." Pansy said, glaring lightly at her own broom in her hand. "Even being well maintained, they're bound to either fail or lose control at some point."

"Lookie what I found." Malfoy smirked as he raised a glass ball into the air. "It's that stupid thing his gram sent him."

"Give that back, Malfoy. It doesn't belong to you." Ron growled, marching toward the blond boy.

Hopping on his broom, Malfoy kicked off into the air, making a quick circle around the students. "I don't think so, Weasley. He left it behind, so he obviously doesn't want it anymore."

Ron ran back and grabbed his broom, kicking off into the air as he tried to catch up to Malfoy. "He fell out of the air! You saw it yourself!"

"I saw no such thing." Malfoy sneered. "I only saw a Gryffindor being too courageous and falling on his pride."

Ron cut the circle that Malfoy was spinning around the class, forcing Malfoy to evade Ron as they played a mid air game of keep away.

"It's finished!" Harry cried as he jumped to his feet, his repaired broom held above his head.

"Potter!" Malfoy called as he reared his arm back. "Catch!"

Harry jumped on his broom and pushed off underneath the tossed glass ball, twitching to the side to evade the hand Millicent tried to put on his shoulder. Shooting across the ground, Harry's eyes glanced up at the falling object as he raced as fast as he could after it, not noticing the broom underneath him was beginning to shake from how fast he was forcing it to fly.

Avoiding a rock that was sticking above the ground by inches, Harry glanced up to guess at the timing of the ball as it would come down in front of him before standing up on his broom carefully as he looked up one more time. Jumping off the broom, the broom in question ricocheted into a stone bench, the magic in it sparking dangerously as Harry reached forward and snatched the ball out of the air, tucking and rolling until he came to a stop.

He didn't see the broom he had just fixed up careen off the ground once, turn to the left and crash into a second stone bench where it shattered into pieces, the magic inside of it shooting out into bright sparks that fizzled out in the air.

"Harry got it!" Harry smiled, holding the crystal ball above his head.

"HARRY POTTER!" The shriek of Professor McGonagall echoing across the grounds had Harry cringing, looking up toward the school and at the figure of Professor McGonagall rushing down from the doorstep of the school to him, a look of dark anger on her face. "What in the world ever possessed you to do such an outlandish stunt?!" McGonagall shouted as she stopped in front of Harry, who was cringing from her.

"Harry was..." Glancing back at the class, Harry could see Malfoy shaking his head slowly in a negative. Cringing further, Harry muttered quietly. "Freak is in trouble.."

"You most certainly are, young man." McGonagall glared to the other students. "Class is dismissed, all of you back into Hogwarts immediately!" Harry got to his feet, beginning to head back to the school. "Not you, Mr. Potter. You are to come with me to the Headmaster's office. There is someone to see us, and we will be having a talk with the Headmaster after they leave."

"Yes, Professor, ma'am." Harry winced.

* * *

"You're just now getting around to my report on Mr. Potter, Albus? That's not the signs of a good guardian for a ward." Amelia Bones tapped her foot at the chair she was sitting at, arms crossed as she stared a hole into Albus Dumbledore.

"Is it really that bad, Amelia?" Dumbledore asked from the other side of his desk. "He was living in the muggle world. The rules state that we are not to be involved with the muggle world unless absolutely necessary."

"You placed him with his relatives, Albus." Amelia pointed out, observing Dumbledore's reactions to her probing. "You didn't have to take him out of the magical world."

"Unfortunately, I had to, as per the reading of the will." Albus sat up from behind his desk, placing his elbows to the desk, his fingers bridged together. "Lily wanted Harry to be with family. She wanted him loved and well taken care of."

"Strange that an occurrence of magic at the Dursley residence didn't bring you when he needed you most." Amelia had to give it to Dumbledore. Even under the harshest of questions, he didn't lose his composure or even hint of the slightest remorse.

"I'm sure you did everything within your power to make sure that Harry was safe. There would have been no need for me to impede an investigation of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Albus answered by rote, a slight smile on his face.

They stared at each other in silence for a little while, no one wishing to speak any further as they waited for the boy in question to arrive. Within minutes, Minerva herded in a very contrite Harry Potter, who looked more a whipped puppy than anything else at the moment.

"Welcome Harry. Please, have a seat." Dumbledore magically drew a chair up behind Harry, who took a seat slowly, looking over at Amelia carefully before looking back at Dumbledore in shame.

"It appears Mr. Potter did a rather brave, if stupid, thing during broom lessons." Minerva offered to the curious glances from Amelia and Dumbledore.

"Really?" Dumbledore glanced to Harry, Amelia sitting up straighter to look at Harry herself. "What did he do that was so dangerous?"

"He caught this," McGonagall pulled from her robes the glass ball that Harry had caught. "jumping from the back of a broom."

"A broom, you say?" Dumbledore glanced to McGonagall, who gave a sharp nod, before returning his eyes to the remembrall in his hands. "That was very dangerous for you to do, Harry. You could have been seriously hurt."

"Freak is sorry, Headmaster..." Harry tucked his head, eyes lowered. "May Freak punish himself now?"

Amelia watched Albus, not taking her eyes from the old Headmaster. She wanted to see how the old bird handled Harry as her eyes took on a very hard look, harder than even stone.

"In regards to that, Harry." Albus spoke, a slight twitch at the corners of his mouth betraying him. "I think the best form of punishment should be one administered to you by the teachers and the headmaster, don't you?" Harry nodded as Albus handed the remembrall to McGonagall. "I think that we will need to speak to Oliver Wood of Gryffindor house in regards to your punishment."

Harry blinked, confused. Looking up at Dumbledore, Harry asked, "Oliver Wood, Headmaster sir?"

"I'm afraid so." Albus smiled kindly to Harry. "Mr. Wood is the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I believe he can show you the rights and wrongs of flying a broom while outside of Madam Hooch's class. Wouldn't you, Minerva?"

"He could have very well killed himself and you want him to learn from Wood?" Minerva seethed anger, her eyes lighting up dimly.

"Indeed." Albus nodded, patting himself on the back. "It is very likely that all Harry needs is some mentoring from an older student, and what better a student than Mr. Oliver Wood?" Amelia quirked an eyebrow at him and McGonagall was shaking slightly. "It would do Harry good to learn from someone who is as driven as Mr. Wood is, wouldn't you agree, Minerva?"

McGonagall practically shivered in anger. "I will be monitoring both Harry and Oliver during this 'mentoring'. I believe that his teacher, Madam Hooch, would also watch them when I am unable to."

"Of course, Minerva." Albus smiled now. "It wouldn't do to have both students have unfortunate accidents without proper supervisors around them to watch out for their best interests." Offering Harry a lemon drop, he bade the boy a good day as McGonagall escorted Harry out of the room, shooting Dumbledore a telling glare before leaving as well.

"That was an interesting piece of administering, Albus." Amelia spoke levelly, going over what her mind had picked out of that conversation, including the way Harry seemed to hold himself and how he had referred to himself. "It appears you have the boy's well being in hand."

"I would certainly hope so." Albus smiled to Amelia. "The welfare of all the children here at Hogwarts is my highest priority."

"Indeed." Amelia commented as she stood up, smoothing her robe. "Unfortunately, I cannot stay and discuss details with you, Albus. One's duty doesn't wait for them, as we both know well." She walked over to the fireplace in the Headmaster's room and opened a small box on top of the mantelpiece, taking a bit of powder in her head before tossing it into the fireplace. "Ministry of Magic." Amelia called, turning to Dumbledore as the fireplace flames changed to a green color. "Good day, Headmaster."

* * *

McGonagall watched Harry from the Professor's table at the head of the Great Hall. Today, he had decided to sit with Slytherin house, Pansy Parkinson and entourage to be precise. Harry was wincing at whatever it was that Ms. Parkinson was saying to him, though she was picking at her food in front of her as she talked with the girls around her, all four of them ignoring Harry. Even though they ignored him, he winced every now and then.

"Good Afternoon, Minerva." Madam Hooch smiled as she sat down next to the transfiguration's teacher, glancing over at what held McGonagall's gaze. "Thinking up an appropriate punishment for the young prodigy?"

"Rolanda." McGonagall murmured as she watched Harry. "I heard you had an accident with one of the first years, a Neville Longbottom, I think Madam Pomfrey said..."

"Poor boy." Madam Hooch shook her head as she started to fill her plate, watching what she selected. It was getting harder and harder to maintain her figure. "Nerves must have got him. His broom just kept going and going and he didn't seem to hear a thing of what I said to him."

McGonagall made a non committal sound as Pansy finally deemed to notice Harry.

"Strangest thing was, I was sure the boy was going to be laid up in the medical wing longer than just a day or two. Fell from a nasty height, and I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't go for my wand when I should have." Hooch chewed on a piece of fruit in her mouth, thinking for a moment before coming to a decision. "You know, I would have swore I saw spellwork just as the boy hit the ground. Almost like a cushioning charm, and I was too wrapped up with taking care of the broke wrist to think about scanning for what it was."

"Spellwork, you say?" McGonagall looked over at Rolanda, her attention finally broken from Harry.

Rolanda nodded. "I may have been a bit focused on Neville, but I would have heard spellwork. I'm not that old as of yet."

McGonagall returned to staring at Harry. "Do you think Mr. Potter could have cast that spell you think you saw?"

Rolanda blinked at McGonagall before staring at Harry. "Wandless magic? But why would he? I mean, I thought he was..."

McGonagall frowned as Dumbledore came to mind. "We need to talk."

* * *

"Why does he put up with that?" Hannah Abbott asked as she watched the boy known as Harry Potter wincing from the verbal conversation around him. She didn't understand how someone could just sit there and take a brow beating like he was, she certainly wouldn't put up with it.

"It's probably a power thing." Susan commented, shrugging. She had made a fast friend in Hannah, even though her friend was a bit over protective about others. She could see how that is, her aunt ran the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "If they can show that Harry Potter bows his head to someone, anyone in Slytherin, it shows that they have some kind of control over them to the rest of the school."

Hannah frowned as Harry got up from where he sat at the table and headed out of the hall.

"We should go talk to him." Hannah muttered softly, staring at the boy's back.

"What would we say?" Susan asked her friend, looking up at the blonde haired girl next to her. "We barely even know him."

Hannah frowned as she glanced at her friend, her eyes going back to follow Harry out the door. She jerked abruptly when a lean looking owl landed in front of both her and Susan, who looked surprised at it. She watched as the owl picked at Susan's plate while Susan took the note from its leg. The owl remained only a handful of seconds after the letter left its leg before it flapped back into the air and headed back out the large window near the top.

"It's from my aunt." Susan spoke lightly as she read the note carefully. Her eyebrows rose slowly as she read. "She wants me to what?"

Hannah looked over her shoulder and read the note quickly, glancing across the parchment until she caught the words 'befriend Harry Potter'. She glanced at Susan, who looked at her in confusion.

"She wants me to keep an eye on Harry. She thinks someone has been treating him badly." Susan summed up the letter. She glanced at the entrance to the hall where Harry had left.

"Let's go, then." Hannah announced as she took Susan's hand and began to drag her away from the table.

Susan had just enough time to grab an apple before being taken from her food, her friend's exuberance lending her strength.

* * *

Harry sat with Hedwig in the owlery, stroking her feathers for his own piece of mind. She had decided not to come down with him for lunch, and he had missed her, even though he had only had her the week before school to now.

"Did Harry do wrong?" He asked Hedwig quietly. She nipped at his fingers lightly while cleaning her own feathers, though as if to say that the fussing over her wasn't necessary. "Harry doesn't understand this place. Harry misses Petunia Ma'am."

Hedwig stopped fussing with Harry's fingers and looked at the boy. She flapped once, Harry's arm coming up instantly as Hedwig hopped the distance toward him before reaching down and nipping his arm firmly.

Wincing, Harry rubbed where Hedwig had bit into him while the bird hissed at him. "But Freak likes living with the Dursleys..." Hedwig clacked and chirruped to him in disapproval before hopping off him and flying upwards, disappearing amongst the other owls.

Harry looked upwards ,trying to find the white owl, but sighed before standing up and headed out from the owlery. Looked like he was going to spend the better part of the day in Slytherin House.

He was halfway to the Slytherin entrance when two Hufflepuff girls stumbled onto him, literally. They came around the corner at a near break neck speed and bowled him over in surprise, stumbling overtop and onto Harry.

"I told you to slow down, but noooo, we had to go running through the halls." Susan mumbled through the mouthful of school robe she was fighting free from.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok?" Hannah sat up on Harry, turning awkwardly to help free Susan from her robes. "We don't want to lose... Harry!" Hannah quickly rolled off the small boy before reaching down and helping the utterly confused Harry to his feet. "I'm so sorry about running into you! You're not hurt, are you?"

"Harry is OK..." Harry mumbled as he was helped to his feet. Readjusting his glasses on his face, he glanced at the two girls in front of him. "Can Harry help you?"

The girls glanced between each other before Hannah spoke first. "Actually, we were thinking about helping you some..." Hannah did want to help, somehow, but being in front of the famous Boy-Who-Lived left her wondering exactly how she was supposed to help out. "We were wondering if you'd like to hang around with us?"

Hang around? Harry blinked at the both of them. How does one 'Hang around'? "Harry doesn't understand..."

Hannah blinked at Harry, glancing at Susan, who was getting that look on her face that she was beginning to call her 'focused' look. "She means that we would like to be your friends, Harry."

Harry's eyes widened as he began to smile. More friends, coming to this 'school' was starting to become better more and more. "Will you teach Harry how to 'Hang Out'? Harry has never done that before..."

* * *

It was after dinner that Harry found himself in the library of the school for the very first time. Walking in hesitantly, he stared in awe at all the books that were here, several levels of books going floors above and around. Never in all his life had he ever imagined that so many books would be amassed in one place. To someone who had done most of his lessons through books, this place could very well be the center of all knowledge. Maybe this was someplace this was someplace that he could back to in his spare time? Well, as long as his friends didn't need him for anything...

It was no wonder that Pansy wanted him to come here and find the answers to questions on the scroll Harry was carrying in clutched tightly in his hand. Looking around at the books, he began to realize that he might not be able to find what he was looking for by tonight, and Pansy had told him to make sure he got the answers, or not to come back to Slytherin house that night.

Looking around, he was unable to find an adult he could ask for assistance, but a quick swish of bushy brown hair brought a smile to his face as Harry sped over to a bookcase. Rounding the corner, he was glad to see the girl he had met on the train standing halfway down the row, peering up at one of the many books on the shelf, her arms already half laden with books.

"Ms. Hermione Granger Ma'am!" Harry called out to the girl, which surprised her and made her jump in place as she turned to face the caller. It also made her toss several books up in the air. Both Harry and Hermione stared at the books at her feet before they looked up at each other, Harry contrite, and Hermione miffed.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Hermione practically hissed through clenched teeth, her body vibrating in place as she glared at Harry.

Harry knew when he was in trouble, usually when Vernon vibrated in spot like a bowl of Jello Harry once had. Hermione wasn't as big as his uncle Vernon was, but she was quickly approaching that level of angry.

Hermione didn't look at him as she knelt down and began to pick the spilled books up off the floor. Harry, unsure if he should help or not, watched as Hermione collected her stuff slowly.

"Is there something I can help you with?" She asked, her voice lacking any discernible emotion in it. She still refused to look at Harry as she stood back up, reaching for the book on the shelf in front of her.

"Harry..." Harry cut off when Hermione's eyes glanced over at him, the hurt, uncaring gaze that briefly crossed over him before turning back to the bookshelf in front of her. Shivering, Harry continued, subdued. "Freak needed help and wondered if Hermione Granger ma'am could help Freak."

"I'm sorry, I'm much too busy to help right now." Hermione answered as she turned away from Harry and walked down the aisle way. "May I suggest finding a teacher instead?" She turned and was gone a moment later, leaving a confused and hurt Harry behind.

* * *

"Draco's up to something." Millicent said from where she sat, watching the room surreptitiously with the few glances she could give it while working on her homework.

"If he's not on his way over here this very moment, I could care less." Pansy commented tersely as she scratched out several words and restarted the sentence in front of her in a different fashion.

Harry flipped through his book from where he sat in front of Daphne and Tracey, who were currently bracketing him with their legs as they wrote on either side of Harry, using their own books to write on. Harry was still slightly hurt from the terse dismissal of Hermione earlier, but had at least done what he'd been told.

"You may get your wish yet." Tracey happened to shift, her eyes passing across the room as Professor Snape did a brief cursory glance around the room, his eyes lingering on Harry in particular before scowling and heading to his personal quarters in Slytherin house. "Snape's turning in early tonight. Must have pulled guard duty again."

"And thus the blond ponce makes his move." Daphne muttered from the other side of the couch as she noticed Draco coming toward their little group.

Smiling, Draco Malfoy stopped to the side of the larger Millicent Bulstrode as he took in the people surrounding the small table. "My, my, quite the little hen party. Practicing to be the little social circle, aren't we?"

"Which goes to show that you don't have an ounce of common sense." Tracey commented from where she was still working on her homework. "Walking into a circle of witches will leave you with little dignity to have if we were in the mood for it. Your mother is very good at taking a person's dignity from them, or so I'm told."

"Yes, she does have that natural talent..." Draco mulled that little fact over in his head before moving on to his true objective. "I've heard in the den that Potter has been seen as your personal man servant these last few days. How does one get the Boy-Who-Lived to follow someone without complaint?" Pansy glanced up at Draco briefly, stifling the unladylike snort she wished to give. "Perhaps you would loan Potter to me? We have a lesson that needs to be taught."

Harry glanced up, placing his book closed on the table in front of him as he attempted to stand up. Both Daphne and Tracey's hands reached out and pushed his shoulders down, keeping him in place. He glanced at both of them, who were both shaking their head at him silently.

"Draco," Pansy began, drawing the blond boy's attention, "if you have a disagreement with Potter, handle it like a gentleman and challenge him to a duel. We're far too busy to be bothered with anything but an honorable duel."

Crabbe and Goyle made to move up and defend Draco's honor in a physical manner when Draco raised his hand, his face a mask of consideration. "A duel? How very droll. Still, the idea has merit. What better way to prove who the better wizard is than to duel Potter in open combat?" Draco's grin was practically devious and only grew as he realized something. "But I think not. After all, what would I gain from fighting Potter, other than publicly embarrassing him?"

"Then there's nothing to discuss." Millicent muttered quietly, the rumble of her voice causing both Crabbe and Goyle to shift away from her to keep her in sight.

"I don't believe anyone asked you for your opinion, Bulstrode." Draco sniped at the tall girl, whose hand hesitated on her paperwork before continuing. "Potter, you and I need to talk."

"Potter is busy, Malfoy." Pansy looked up from her work, locking a challenging gaze on Draco. "He was invited by us to be here, and until he is ready to leave, he is unavailable."

Harry shivered as he picked his book up and began to read from it again, ignoring the conversation going on over his head.

"Careful with your words, witch." All pretense at civility was gone from Draco's voice as he glared at Pansy. "Know your place when your betters speak in your presence."

"My place?" Pansy tested the word in her mouth as if tasting a new piece of food she'd only heard of before, unsure as to what it was she was about to eat. "Draco Malfoy, your words and very presence offends me. The very fact that you are trying to get something by your name instead of by your wits makes me wonder how you ever managed to get into Slytherin house at all."

Draco bristled as Pansy turned from looking at him and pulled a new sheet of parchment, starting a new page for her potions class. Crabbe and Goyle were already in the process of walking past Draco when he grabbed them by their elbows. Both of the boys looked at their de facto leader as he continued to glare at the raven haired girl.

"I will remember this, Parkinson." Draco gestured with his head as he turned slowly before walking off with both of his shadows, who glanced over their shoulders at the circle of women.

"He's not going to let that slide, Pansy." Daphne smirked slightly as she lifted her parchment and blew lightly, trying to speed the drying ink up.

"We'll just have to make an example out of him then." Pansy scowled at her work as she wrote viciously on her parchment, nearly ripping it with the quill in her hand.

"They're the Malfoy's for a reason." Tracey glanced off at Draco who was in a snit as he discussed something with Crabbe and Goyle. "The Dark Lord favored the Malfoy family right up until his demise."

"If the Dark Lord is dead, then there needs to be someone to step up into the place left behind by him." Pansy glanced around at the girls around her, Harry still ignoring the conversation around him. "If the Dark Lord returns, then maybe we should make sure that those who are still loyal to him are not after their share and more."

"And Potter?" Millicent asked as she glanced down at Harry, who looked up at her and gave her a bright smile.

"He was the one who defeated him last." Pansy mulled as she turned several thoughts in her head. "If we keep him with us, we can at least give the Dark Lord a gift he will want above all others."

* * *

Albus stood at his window in hos office, staring out at the grounds and the small town of Hogsmead as he wondered, not for the first time, just what it was he was doing. Amelia was now concerned about young Harry's well being, and if the law of the magical world were to find out exactly what it was that he had planned on trying to do with the young boy, there wasn't a court in the world that wouldn't bring him up on capital crimes that would require his immediate execution.

"What is your impression of Harry, Severus?" Dumbledore asked as he turned back to his room and to the two teachers who were sitting in front of his desk.

Severus glared to the other teacher before adjusting the collar of his robes. "That can't be James Potter's son." Dumbledore waited for him to continue as he eyed the other person next to him once again. "They look the same, there's no doubt about that, but there's nothing else that even remotely compares to his father. No tricks, no baiting someone, there's nothing there. If I didn't know he'd come from Lily and James, I would say he was a Homunculus of some type."

Dumbledore sighed. There was something wrong with Harry, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was. This connection to acting like a house elf threatened to unravel everything. "Minerva, what have you been able to find out about Harry?"

Minerva continued to eye Severus for a few more moments before turning her attention to Dumbledore. "For all intents and purposes, he is Harry Potter, but there are events that are becoming more and more unsettling as I looked into his home life some through our spy." She still didn't like the idea that Dumbledore kept Harry under a constant supervision when he was living at his muggle home. However, with certain facts now coming to light, it was wise of him to place such a person so close to Harry.

"I've been reading through the reports she sent in diligently, a fact that you didn't read them yourself where the problem can be placed clearly back at your own feet for not doing so!" Minerva glared hotly at Dumbledore for his shortcomings, clearly still remembering the earlier conversation with Harry.

"Is there any indication of magical use that should have been flagged that is noted in her paperwork?" Dumbledore asked, forestalling the rant Minerva was heading towards.

Shifting in place, Minerva glared hotly at Albus. "There is nothing in anything I've read so far that remotely points towards magical use, or any type of accidental magic being used. Even so, accidental magic in nearly impossible to keep track of."

"Thank you, Minerva. I think I understand." Dumbledore waved placatingly at Minerva, a dull throb starting behind his eyes. "So we can assume that the magic Harry does know is all based on his domestic skills from living at his family's house."

"Maybe not." Minerva spoke carefully, remembering her conversation with Rolanda. "Madam Hooch mentioned an incident involving Neville Longbottom and Harry casting a wandless cushioning charm that may have very well saved the poor boy's life."

"A wandless cushioning charm, you say?" Albus muttered nearly to himself as he thought of the implications.

The silence stretched onwards as Dumbledore thought to himself, reaching to his desk and popping a lemon drop from a candy tray into his mouth. He hummed as he rolled the candy in his mouth, a plan already beginning to form as to what they would need to do next.

"Professor, what am I to do about Potter?" Severus asked, still unnerved about the boy. "I can't punish the boy if he's in my own house without a reason. If he was anywhere but Slytherin, I could at least look to have favoritism for Slytherin house, but if I single him out in Slytherin..."

"Then the rest of the house will turn on him as well. Yes, I understand, Severus." Dumbledore took a seat in his chair behind the only desk in the room. He brushed his hand over his beard for a few strokes in silence before coming to a decision. "If you can't punish him in public, may I suggest holding him after classes and using his services in preparing for the next lessons? It will allow you to gain a sort of rapport with him and to give the impression that he has drawn your attention. We will have to let your reputation fill in the blank."

Severus nodded slowly, unsure if this was going to work. He stood from his chair and made his excuses as he headed for the door, leaving Minerva and Albus to finish their talk.

Minerva changed from the harsh look she held t one of mild annoyance as Albus removed his spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Things are so wrong, Albus. Harry was meant to be a normal boy, not this puppet he's grown to be." Albus nodded, but didn't say anything, prompting Minerva to continue to speak. "What are you going to do about the stone? We both know that he is coming for it. We've made it too easy for him not to come personally for it."

Albus glanced to Minerva, looking around the room carefully before sitting up in his chair Regaining a momentary clarity he had previously lost, Albus replied to her question. "If he can't be prodded in the right direction, we're going to have to become the puppet masters until he can be guided." Minerva frowned sadly at Albus, as if disappointed in his decision, a disappointment he felt keenly. "None of us can stop him, Minerva. Not even you can stop him if it were to come down to it."

"So, we become the monsters we always claimed to fight against. Have you fallen so far as to contemplate such an act?" Minerva sadly asked, watching the guilt pass over Albus's face before it was quickly hidden.

"It's for the Greater Good..." Albus murmured to himself. _'If Harry manages to survive, I hope that he __one day forgives me...'_


	5. Chapter 5

**It's me again, Folks. The vocational school I'm at is nearly done with me, so my writing time should pick back up very soon. I know you guys don't like to wait for this stuff to com out, but I'm doing my best to get it to you as I can. Anyways, on to the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: If your reading this, then you must be looking to sue me. This story is a work of Fiction and the author of this story does not lay claim to the Original of which this was inspired from. There was no money made, nor desire for cash when creating this work of literacy in the making of this work**

**G.B.: I'm going to address this now for you nay sayers. This is currently First Year for Harry and all cast. Their ages have not been changed, altered, or set up in any way, shape, or form to even think about a sexual act, incident, or even acts of a Harem. Being that this is the first book, I am not going to have any relationships start up that will allude to the fact that a Harem is forming. They'll have to figure that one out for themselves at a later date, if there is a next book.  
**

* * *

Waiting patiently in a large stadium like area, Harry wondered what types of sports were to be played here. His experience with sports was minor as his Uncle Vernon didn't seem to have an interest in them, except on the weekend when there was nothing left to read in the newspaper that was brought to the house on a regular basis. Still, with as large as the grounds were, and the three sized hoops on either end of the field, he wondered if it had something to do with the american sport of basketball.

The rattling trunk nearby occasionally drew his interest. As big as his trunk in his room, there was only a simple latch on the front of it that kept it closed, a push button under the latch instead of a regular locking clasp holding it shut. It was interesting that the chest would flop around from time to time as something inside of it struggled to move about, but otherwise the chest remained where it was.

Waiting patiently with a smile on his face, he wondered why Professor McGonagall wanted him to come out here during break and wait for her. He only had a bit longer to wait when said teacher walked into the ground area leading another boy behind her. The boy was a bit big in the sense that he had a player's physique, definitely made for quick action and not for hard contacts, but could give as good as he got if it came down to it.

"Harry, let me introduce you to Oliver Wood. He plays for Gryffindor as their Keeper." McGonagall stepped aside to allow Wood to come forward and shake Harry's hand.

Harry nearly winced as Oliver shook his hand. "Professor McGonagall tells me that you need some lessons in flying. It's not something I normally help with as the teachers are better than I am, but we can give it a go, can't we?"

"Harry gets to fly?" His eyes lit up at the possibility of getting back into the air. He hadn't flown except for the one time, and already he felt a need to return to the sky.

"Well, at least he's got the right spirit." Wood grinned as McGonagall turned and made a flicking motion with her wand back the way they had come. Within moments, two brooms came to her at best speed before hovering to a stop in front of her. Oliver thanked Professor McGonagall for the brooms, taking them from the teacher before handing Harry one of them. "Cleansweeps are a good broom, and very good to learn on."

Harry wondered at the grimace on Wood's face at the mention of the cleansweep before taking the broom. He gave it a once over, running his fingers over the bristles lightly before smiling and following the directions of Wood as they straddled their brooms and kicked off the ground. Minerva watched from the ground as Rolanda approached her, her own broom in her hand as she glanced up at the children.

"Anything?" Rolanda asked as the two women stared up at Harry and Wood.

"There is something different about him." Minerva spoke softly as she kept her eyes fixed on both of the boys. "He's more... alive."

"Maybe he's a natural when on a broom." Rolanda smirked as she glanced up at the boys as they began a simple Quidditch maneuver.

"It's a little unnerving watching him." Minerva commented idly as Wood unconsciously sped up, Harry keeping with him as Wood became more and more excited. "Watching him in school is a bit depressing. I, myself, have had to pull Harry to the side and teach him wand work personally. He just does magic, doesn't even realize he's doing it."

Wood was beginning to show Harry a more complicated maneuver when Rolanda eyed the Quidditch trunk. She glanced over at McGonagall briefly as she circled behind the older witch, whose eyes were locked on the air ballet above them. Once over to the trunk, Rolanda tapped the button beneath the clasp, allowing the arm to come free and the trunk lid to swing open, showing two struggling large balls on either end of the trunk trying to leap free into the air, one slightly smaller with handgrips on it, and the tiniest one that shined a bright gold color.

She glanced at McGonagall quickly to make sure the older witch wasn't watching her before she reached down and unclasped the golden ball. Holding it tightly in her fist, she turned and with a hard toss, lobbed it into the air toward the boys.

"Rolanda Hooch!" Minerva yelled, drawing the attention of the boys, only for Harry's eyes to catch a golden flash as it began to fall, right itself, and take off all in one motion.

"Wonder what they're yelling about?" Wood asked, only to realize that Harry had darted away from him. "Harry! Where're you going, mate?"

Harry couldn't hear anything but the wind as he gave chase to the golden blur in front of him. Eyes locked on as if he were an avian predator, he followed after the ball of gold with vibrating wings as if his life depended on it. The ball fluttered back and forth in front of him, flitting back and forth across the field as Harry made to keep up with it. He could feel the broom thrumming with magic as he tried to coax it to go faster, and the magical item tried to obey as Harry's magic began to augment it.

The flight after the Snitch was brought to an end far sooner than Harry expected as the Snitch suddenly zipped upward in front of him. Harry pulled upward on the broom, intending on doing a barrel roll to catch the Snitch, or at least keep up with it, when the broom handle in his hands snapped off of the part he was still seated in. He had just a few moments to realize that he was holding a wooden handle when the broom lost whatever magic it had left in it and dipped away underneath him just as Harry met the barricade that led up into the stand at full speed.

He thought he heard someone calling his name as the darkness swept in and claimed him.

* * *

As the world began to swim back into clarity once again, Harry found himself not on the grounds in the Quidditch pitch where he thought he would be, but in a cot in the medical ward under the care of Madam Pomfrey. She was just coming back over to check on Harry as he sat up in bed and looked around in confusion even as his hand reached for his glasses on the nightstand next to the bed.

"You had Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch worried, young man." The admonishing tone of Madam Pomfrey tisked at him as he looked up at the Nurse. "Flying around like that as if you were one of those senseless Seekers. Your lucky to have walked away with only a bruise, I should say."

Harry waited as Madam Pomfrey ran her wand over him, making sure to give Harry a light scan after reminding Harry that all she was going to do was giving him a checkup. While he waited, Madam Pomfrey talked for Harry's benefit. "You had some of the other first years come looking for you while you were unconscious. A young girl with raven dark hair, and two Hufflepuff even came looking for you." Madam Pomfrey shook her head at that thought. "The Hufflepuff were insistent that they stay and make sure that you were alright, but I sent them on to their classes none the less."

Nodding, she handed Harry a potion and directed him to drink it all the way down. Once he was finished, nodded and said he was as fit as she could make him before allowing him out of the bed. "You've missed most of your classes, so make sure to head to your Professors to find out what you were studying in class. Off you go, young man."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey Ma'am." Harry bowed to her before heading off in the direction of his classes.

Harry reviewed the last few minutes in his head as his feet walked him automatically toward his classes. The first thing that came to mind was the broom handle he realized he had broken off in his hands as the wall zoomed up in front of him. He worried if Madam Hooch was going to punish him for breaking one of the school brooms, or maybe even Professor McGonagall. Breaking school property had to be a bad thing, it was like that when he went to school before being home schooled.

He remembered the golden winged thing, the Snitch, if he remembered Wood calling it that. He remembered focusing in on the little golden blur of magic that animated it as he had taken off after it. He didn't remember quite clearly if he had been told to get it, but he did remember that his body had been needing to grab the flitting little ball.

He thought about that as the walls around him blurred, the sound of a pop going off from time to time. It was the first time he had flown before, yet it had felt so good to be in the air, weightless and moving around as if a cloud or a bird. Thinking of a bird, he thought about how Hedwig and how they could fly in the air together, just the two of them.

His eyes crossed as he walked into a door, not realizing it was there.

Blinking, Harry frowned as he looked around himself. He was in front of the owlery, which was halfway across the castle from the medical ward he had just been. Was he really not paying that attention for that long? True, it did allow him to get to most of his classes that much faster, but if he had walked that far, then lunch was nearly over.

"Freak has to hurry to class." Harry muttered to himself as he turned and headed down the set of stairs he didn't remember climbing.

* * *

"What in the world were you thinking, Rolanda?" McGonagall hissed at the teacher for brooms class. "If he had been riding any harder, he would have killed himself from the impact!"

"But he didn't McGonagall." Rolanda reminded the transfiguration teacher as they sat down to the weekly meeting for the faculty. "You're acting like I tried to kill him."

"You almost very well did!" McGonagall spun on Rolanda, her eyes alight with anger.

"Talking about the Golden Boy again, ladies?" Snape spoke snidely at them, receiving the glare that Rolanda had just been pinned with. The only difference was that he didn't care one whit what Minerva thought. "Can we please get to business? I have a house to run."

"As we will be discussing Harry very shortly, Snape," McGonagall nearly spat his name, "You had best be prepared for an accounting of your house."

"How I run my house is none of this committee's concern." Snape growled at Minerva, tempted to stand up and face her down.

"That the Serpent's Den has been semi quiet while he's been in their house is actually a cause for concern." Pomona nodded as Filius spoke her mind.

Snape's anger was put aside so that he could smile deviously to them. The look did nothing for his attitude. "Potter has been 'adopted' by a circle of witches within my veritable Serpent's Den. They not only keep the others away from him, but they keep him busy as well. I wouldn't be too surprised if they've already managed to get him to sign a servitor's contract."

"Severus Snape, if Harry Potter has signed a Servitor's Contract while under your watch, so help me, I'll..." McGonagall reached for her wand as the air practically crackled around her.

"You'll what, Professor?" He stood up rapidly, his hand reflexively reaching for his wand.

"Must we call for Dumbledore?" The head nurse, Madam Pomfrey, chastised as she walked in and took a seat at the table with the other teachers who were doing their best to ignore both McGonagall and Snape as they glared at each other. "Honestly, you act like your both students here."

They continued to face off between each other before taking seats opposite of each other.

"Now then." Madam Pomfrey looked around at the assembled teachers. Even Professor Kettleburn, current teacher of Care of Magical Creatures was looking as if he wanted to leave as soon as he could. "When Harry woke after his meeting with the safety wall," Madam Pomfrey frowned at both McGonagall and Rolanda, "he was in good health and I sent him to get his lessons from everyone. I assume he made it to all of you?"

"He seemed distracted when he came to me." Pomona commented as she relaxed into her seat. "I asked him if anything was wrong and he merely shook his head before heading off. Personally, I think he needed to be hugged and sent straight to lunch."

"Aside from the obvious," Irma Pince, the librarian, looked to Pomona with a disdainful look, "Harry was fine while in the library later today. If anything, whenever he handles one of my books, they are always returned to their proper place better than when he took it from the shelf."

"Interesting you'd mention that, Irma." Rolanda removed a broken cleansweep from her robes from someplace on her person and placed it on the table in front of her. "I was inspecting the broom Harry rode into a wall. This broom literally broke underneath him before he hit the wall." Several of the Teachers eyed the broom speculatively. "It burst from too much magic being poured into it."

"Did he cast anything on it before riding it?" Filius had his wand out and had cast a quick inspection spell on the broom in the middle of Rolanda's explanation.

"If he did, he would of had to have done it silently and wandless. Which as we all know is impossible at such a young age." Rolanda sat back in her seat and gave McGonagall an imperious look.

"Mr. Potter seems to suspend impossible upon a pinhead." Snape looked uncomfortable as the conversation continued. "Is there anything else, or may me conclude this meeting?"

"Just one other thing before we discuss any problems we have in classes or students we need to help." McGonagall brought the attention to her as Flitwick took the broken broom after shrinking it and putting it into his pocket. "Harry Potter will be staying in Ravenclaw for the next two months, starting after halloween. In hopes of helping him, I am authorizing him to be allowed on a Quidditch team."

"You are making an exception for Potter to be on a Quidditch team?" Snape jumped to his feet again, his hands slapping the tabletop as he leaned over it at McGonagall. "There are rules in place to keep the first years out of a professional team due to the fact that they can get hurt easily!"

McGonagall gave him a cool gaze. "You have little say in the matter. This comes from Dumbledore himself."

Snape bit down on the retort he wanted to say to her, just to rub that cool look off of her face. Sitting down, he seethed ineffectually. "I will take this up with Dumbledore personally."

McGonagall nodded. "Make sure you do."

* * *

Charms class was an ordeal for Harry. Although the lessons were easy enough, every time he tried to use his wand, his magic would make the feather float before he had spoken the words. Professor Flitwick had placed him with Ron Weasley, the both of them struggling to make the feather do more than just shift back and forth weakly on the books in front of them, or in Harry's case, get up and float away before he'd said anything.

"Why can't I do this right?" Ron muttered darkly as he cast the levitating charm at the feather again with a hard flick. The feather wobbled up in the air, then promptly fell off the back of the book from the gust of wind that Ron's arm had caused.

"Wingar-" Harry cut off as his feather lifted into the air up in front of his face and sat there, spinning someone who had never known he had been doing magic unconsciously for years, this was very vexing. If he didn't get control of this soon, someone could be hurt by him.

"Your saying it wrong." Hermione spoke behind them, partnered with another Gryffindor, Seamus Finnigan if Harry remembered the roll call correctly.

Ron rolled his eyes as Harry watched the feather float back down lazily in front of him. "You can tell this how?" Ron asked, turning around to look at the bushy haired girl, his arms crossed in front of himself as he stared at her.

Hermione glared at Ron as Harry spoke the words, hand halfway through the flicking motion when the feather rose in the air again. "It's Win-Gar-Dium Levi-O-Sa. The gar has to be long or the spell doesn't have the needed strength to it."

"Right." Ron spoke in a tone that hinted at how much he didn't care what she said to him. "Maybe if you'd be so kind and demonstrate for us?"

Hermione frowned at Ron before motioning to her own feather. "Wingardium Leviosa!" She flicked at the feather before her. Tentatively, the feather began to float upward into the air, spinning in place as it rose higher and higher until it hovered in front of her eyes.

"Oh, very well done, Ms. Granger. 5 points to Gryffindor!" Professor Flitwick squeaked out to the bushy haired student. "Please take note of Ms. Granger's use of the spell. Nice, strong intonation and perfect wand control."

Ron turned around from Hermione, who had a smug look on her face. "Course the bookworm would get it right the first time..." Ron muttered not low enough. Moments after speaking in a harsh tone, the bottom of Ron's robes flipped up around him, pulling upwards in the air to the hissed levitating charm.

Harry glanced over at the struggling boy and his suddenly animated robes before turning his head back around to the feather in front of him. "Wingar-" The feather levitated so hard and fast, it embedded in the ceiling, cracking one of the stones with the force of its sudden rush for the sky. Harry stared up at the feather before frowning at his wand, ignoring the struggles behind him as Flitwick had jumped onto Ron's leg to hold him down as his robes continued to fly upwards with him in them.

* * *

Harry sat in the Great Hall, eating the evening meal quietly as he sat amongst the other Ravenclaw he would be spending the next two months with them. He didn't know if he liked that or not. He had been assured that he could go into the Slytherin common room if he wanted to, but he had to be back in the Ravenclaw house by the 10th tolling of the school bell.

He didn't know if it bothered him any about the fact that Pansy and her circle of witches didn't encourage him to come back when he left. Daphne and Tracey had told him that his duties to them were not nearly finished, which meant that he would be coming back to see them often. Even Milicent had made mention that he was going to continue rubbing her feet when she wanted him to, and that his moving into a new house wasn't going to change that.

Only Pansy had said nothing to him about the matter, and he wondered if he had not been a good enough servant in some fashion to her. It left him feeling slightly sick. Tonight was Halloween, well, it was the beginnings of Halloween after midnight. He wondered if they practiced the same traditions as his muggle family did by decorating the castle with.... Actually, now that he thought about it, the castle always looked like Halloween.

He glanced around at the clothes, the suits of armor, and most especially, the ghosts. Maybe wizards and witches dressed up as muggles for halloween?

Training for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team was a thrill for him. He had to reign himself in at times when he could hear the broom under him strain from the force he was putting on it with turns and banks, which was unfortunate. He could get the snitch, the golden flicker from his first foray chasing it, but it meant planning ahead of the snitch, which was almost impossible.

Finishing his meal for the night, Harry was just about to stand up when the doors to the Great Hall banged open, an out of breath Professor Quirrel stumbling in. "There's a troll.... in the castle.... Just thought you should know..." He managed to gasp out before his eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out.

The four tables began to speak excitedly amongst themselves about the possibility of a troll making it's way down to them. Albus got to his feet immediately and called out to the student. "Prefects! Gather the students and take them back immediately to the houses!"

"Right! Gryffindors, let's get going!" Percy Weasley announced as he clapped his hands, herding the Gryffindors from their seats and toward the side doors closest to the Gryffindor house. Harry watched as Gryffindor house was rounded up in short order, Fred and George aiding Percy, although mimicking him was more likely. Neville and Ron were close together near Seamus and Dean Thomas, the four talking to each other as they milled toward the door.

Harry smiled at the friendship in that group and turned his eyes further onto Gryffindor before his smile waned. Hermione wasn't in the Gryffindor group, in fact, she wasn't with anywhere he could see her. Her bushy, ginger colored hair was an easily distinct marker, and yet, no matter where he looked, he couldn't find her.

Glancing over at the Hufflepuff table, he could find Hannah and Susan almost instantly. He frowned as he turned around to look across the hall to where Pansy and her friends were moving toward their side exit for the Slytherin house entrance. Closing his eyes, he turned once more and opened them to stare at the Grey Lady, the house ghost for Ravenclaw house float through the wall just as he opened his eyes.

Closing his eyes and turning in spot, Harry thought about Hermione in his minds eye and turned on the spot. He felt something change around him before he noticed the noise. Opening his eyes, he didn't recognize where he was, or even how he had gotten there. He guessed that he was on the second floor, he was standing dangerously close to the top step of the stairwell that led back down to the floor below, a glance down told him that he was near the entrance of Hogwarts.

Frowning, he closed his eyes again and turned in place.

When he reopened his eyes, he was in a kitchen full of little people roughly 3 foot tall, all of them wearing what looked to be rag tag clothing. Harry blinked, turning in place as he stared at them moving about until one of them noticed him and make a sound very much like a scared sheep. "You is not to be in here! How is you entering without opening the door? Apparition isn't allowed in Hogwarts!"

All the creatures stopped and stared at him, their slightly oversized eyes and large batty ears making Harry wonder what they were. "Freak is looking for Hermione Granger. Freak doesn't know how he is getting here, only that Freak turned, and Freak was here."

Several of the creatures turned to each other, one of them walking right up to him and placing it's hands on its hips. "Blinker is knowing you is a bad student. Blinker is to be taking you to the Headmaster."

Harry wilted under the creatures gaze at its words. "Freak only wanted to find Ms. Hermione Granger ma'am. Harry is thinking she is in trouble."

"Blinker." One of the other creatures hissed at the one in front of Harry, making a beckoning motion with it's hand.

Blinker frowned at the one calling it. "Blinker is telling you to stay here." Harry nods sadly as he watches the strange creature dressed in a bathing towel head over to another dressed in parsed together napkins before they began to have a heated whispering. Blinker frowned harder and harder at the frantic creature dressed in napkins stitched together before Blinker gestured to it and came back to Harry. "Blinker is to be taking you to Ms. Hermione Granger Ma'am, then is to be taking you straight to Headmaster Dumbledore. Is Harry to be understanding Blinker?"

Harry brightened to the creature before nodding. "Harry will be more than happy to be punished. Can Harry go now?"

Blinker frowned at Harry before reaching up and taking his hand. There was a brief pop, then Harry was standing outside of a bathroom. He looked at the doorway before looking down at the creature holding his hand. "Ms. Hermione is in this room here. You is to be going in and getting her. Blinker is to be waiting here."

Nodding, Harry smiled as he turned the handle and stepped into the bathroom. He looked around the room, a girl's bathroom from the look of it, though it was a bit gloomy and a little dirty as well. He made a note to come back to this particular bathroom and clean it later. Walking down the stalls, he peered under each one until he came to the only one with feet.

"Hermione Granger, Ma'am. We is needing to go!" Harry called out as he knocked on the bathroom stall.

"Go away!" Hermione ordered from behind the door. The sounds of sniffles could be heard.

"Freak cannot do that!" He turned toward the doorway to the hall beyond. Had he heard Blinker just a moment ago. "Freak must not allow Ms. Hermione Granger Ma'am to be alone right now!"

"No one else cares if I'm here, Why does it matter now?" Hermione shouted from inside the stall. "It's like I never left home! All of the students hated me there for being smarter than them! I should have known better than to come here!"

"Freak is sorry for Ms. Hermione Granger, but Freak needs Ms. Hermione to come with him right..." He heard the bathroom door opening. Worried that the creature that had brought him here was finally done waiting and was coming to get them, he turned toward the door.

It was big, impossibly big to fit through the doorway, but somehow, it did. Twelve foot tall, skill a dull granite gray, the small head on the boulder like body looked like some south seas nut he'd read about in his books. The large piece of wood vaguely shaped like a club looked like it had been a leg at one point of time, if it hadn't been brown colored. It's beady eyes swept the room as it scratched itself getting back to it's feet, before its eyes locked onto Harry.

"Harry is needing you to stay right where you are." Harry uttered weakly as he stepped away from the stall and stepped to the other side as far away from both the stall and the troll. Pulling his wand from his pocket, Harry flashed through several of the lessons he had been taught since starting school, none of them seeming to be of very much use against something so big.

"Harry, what is that smell?" Hermione's voice called from the other side of the door.

"Freak needs you to stay there, Ms. Hermione Ma'am." Harry needed a distraction to draw the creatures attention, and his magic acted as the tip of his wand lit up with a bright glow. "Please do not come out of the stall, Ms. Hermione Ma'am." The Troll eyed him as it took a step closer, then eyed the stall that was preventing its club to allow it to come forward.

"Harry, what's going on?" The door to Hermione's stall began to open up when Harry's wand flicked to it, magic leaping from his wand to hit the door and prevent it from opening. "Harry Potter! You let me out of here this minute!"

"Freak can't do that. Please stay hidden, Ms. Hermione Granger." Harry turned back toward the door and paled as the Troll had reared its arm back and was getting ready to swing its club into the stalls that led to Hermione. Harry's wand flicked forward, a shot of yellow energy flying from the end of his wand and hitting the Troll. Unfortunately, it didn't do what he wanted as the troll swung forward, smashing the wooden stalls to kindling.

He heard her scream, he heard the Troll shout in glee from the destruction. He saw a hand weakly moving under the wood from the broken stalls, then the last thing he saw was red.

* * *

Minerva had been the closest to the bathroom when Blinker found her. She had directed the house elf to find the next nearest teacher and direct them here, although she had explicitly told the elf to leave Professor Quirrell alone in the hall. Hopefully, she'd be able to make it in time to save the young students.

She had just turned the corner to the third floor hallway leading to the out of use girl's bathroom when the door to the bathroom blew off its hinges and shattered against the wall across from it. The sounds of a loud scuffle could be heard inside and the Troll sounded enraged. Hurrying to the doorway, wand in hand, Minerva walked into a scene she wasn't expecting.

The Troll was hanging in the air, spinning ineffectually as it struggled to right itself. The Troll's club laid against the wall by the basin, transfigured into several desks and chairs, and looked to be growing leaves from them. Hermione was sitting under a vibrating ball of ... something ... staring at Harry, slightly scared and disheveled.

Harry was crackling like a lightning rod in an electrical storm. Glaring hatefully up at the Troll, his open hand held out and above him as if he was holding the Troll up with it, his other hand was tightly holding onto his wand which was discharging raw magic left and right. She watched, dumbfounded, as Harry moved his open hand left then right, the Troll in the air matching Harry's movements by bouncing off of the corresponding walls, which upset the Troll even more.

"You hurt Hermione!" Harry spat darkly, his green eyes gone flinty and cold as he glared at the Troll. "You hurt my friend, someone who didn't deserve to be hurt, who shouldn't ever have to cry!" Bolts of pure magic were starting to pit the stone around Harry as he thrust his palm back, forcing the Troll to be pinned against the wall. He pushed forward on it, preventing it from trying to use the wall as a point of leverage to break free of Harry. "You. Hurt. My. Friend!"

Minerva flicked her wand at Harry. "Stupify!" The yellow beam flew from her wand and fizzled around Harry as if it never was.

Harry raised his wand at the Troll. "No one hurts my friends!" Harry hissed hatefully as he took aim. A bolt of energy ripped from his wand and impacted against the Troll's head, the near miss a result of the struggling the Troll was going through.

"Stupify!" Minerva put more power behind her stunner, the yellow beam barely reaching Harry, but unable to do anything more than touch him.

Harry squeezed his splayed hand, causing the Troll to struggle harder at the pressure now pushing on it from all sides. "Hold Still!" Harry barked as his wand spat another bolt of magic at the Troll, this time striking it in the upper right arm. The Troll bellowed in pain as it tried to break free from Harry's power.

"Minerva! I came as soon as I...?" Filius came to a stop as best they could, Flitwick better than Severus who had been hot on his heels. "What is going on in there?"

Harry's wand spat another bolt of energy, striking the Troll in the chest and causing enough damage to make the creature begin to bleed. It's bellows of Anger had begun to turn into whimpers of desperation.

"Stupify!" Severus spat as he aimed his wand at Harry. His magic dissipated feet before the boy, none the wiser of the attempt to stop him.

"All three of us, together!" Minerva directed as Harry launched another bolt of energy at the Troll, who by now was beginning to bleed badly as Harry squeezed harder. "Stupify!" The three teachers called out together, their stunning beams converging at one point.

The triple power of the spell was enough to punch through whatever was around Harry preventing the normal spell from reaching him. As the Spell took hold, The power holding the Troll up, the bubble around Hermione, and the wood that was growing under its own power all stopped at once. Even the power from around Harry's wand fizzled out as he dropped to the ground, along with the half conscious Troll.

"Incarcerous!" Snape pointed to the weak Troll, rope bindings leaping from the end of his wand to wrap around the Troll, binding it immobile.

Minerva headed over to Hermione as Flitwick came over to Harry. He tried to cast several charms at Harry to see about his health, but every spell that was cast at him rebounded back to him. "Best I can tell, he's unconscious. It looks at if his protections are back in place." Flitwick knelt down by Harry to check his pulse and breathing. "He's only unconscious, I think. Poppy will be able to tell us more when he wakes up."

"Ms. Granger seems to be alright as well, but is in shock." Minerva called to the other teachers. "We should take them all to Poppy. Severus, will you be able to handle the Troll?"

Severus snorted grandly. "After what Potter's done to it, I imagine that young Ms. Granger could handle it right now."

"I'll take Ms. Granger with me. When Hagrid arrives, have him take Harry to Poppy first. I'm sure Albus will want to deal with the Troll personally." Minerva directed as she took Hermione's hand. "Come along, Ms. Granger. We need to go to see Madam Pomfrey before taking you back to our House. You have a lot of explaining to do."

* * *

Hermione sat and watched as Poppy fussed over Harry once again. It had been two days since the Troll, but Harry would not wake up for any reason. Poppy had guessed it had been brought on due to stress and magical exhaustion, but the look in Professor McGonagall's eyes conveyed a hint of something else. Something that made a teacher worry was a cause for concern.

Hagrid had brought Harry in that night, large tears rolling down his cheeks as he mentioned something about how brave Harry had been to fight a Troll by himself to defend Hermione. Poppy had to admonish Hagrid several times when he became too distraught and nearly openly bawled about Harry being hurt. It had sent her nerves back on edge after just drinking a calming draught.

When she tried to run her magic over Harry, the vexation in her voice set Hermione's nerves off even more as the motherly matron started swearing like a sailor. Hearing the story from both Hermione and Minerva of what they found when they could finally see what was going on had set Poppy off into an even worse snit. She had calmed down by them after feeding Harry a potion every hour for the next six until she gave up and sent Hermione back to Gryffindor House with her approval.

She had come back when she could to see Harry. At the beginning of the second day, Harry's white snowy owl had found her way to her master, sitting on a perch that had been placed there for the pet. Every time Poppy saw it, she made to shoo the owl off, and every time, Hedwig would hiss at her and spread her wings, daring the old woman to try it. She had met Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott, both Hufflepuff girls, and they had struck off a tentative friendship through each other. When both Hufflepuff had heard about how Harry had fought off a Troll to save her, Susan's eyes narrowed and Hannah had made it her duty to come back often to take care of Harry.

Madam Pomfrey had to send her to bed one night when she caught Hannah trying to sleep in the next bed closest to Harry.

She had nearly been run over by one Slytherin girl she had seen Harry with at the Slytherin common table and in Potion's class, the pretty dark brunette Daphne Greengrass. Her dark blue eyes considered Hermione for a moment as they stared at each other before Daphne excused herself and walked out of the medical ward.

It was nearing dinner of the second day when Harry groaned on his bed, his hand reaching for his brow. She froze as Harry began coming to before as she watched him sit up and looked around blearily. Picking up his glasses, he placed them on his face slowly as he looked around once again. "Hey, Hermione." Harry yawned as he stretched, Hedwig hopping back and forth from one leg to another before Harry held his arm out in front of him.

Flapping over to his outstretched arm. Harry was surprised as he felt the weight of his owl land on his arm, but he quickly smiled as Hedwig began nibbling at him. "It's good to see you as well, girl. You weren't worried about me, were you?"

"Madam Pomfrey! Madam Pomfrey!" Hermione jumped to her feet and ran down to Madam Pomfrey's office.

Harry blinked as Hermione went running for Madam Pomfrey. "Guess I know where I'm at." He murmured as he absently stroked Hedwig's feathers. "At least Hermione is alright."

Hedwig nipped at his finger, illiciting a soft cry of pain. She puffed up on his arm and gave him a glare as she swayed back and forth on Harry's arm.

"I know what I did was wrong, but Hermione would have been left alone if I didn't go and help." Harry tried to touch Hedwig again and nearly had his finger bit by her. "Hedwig, it was a Troll. I wasn't about to leave my friend behind."

"You should not have tried to take on that Troll by yourself, Mr. Potter." Madam Pomfrey tsked at him as she came around the screen that separated the beds from one another. "It was very foolish of you to take on a Troll by yourself. You very well could have been killed."

"It was trying to attack Hermione, Madam Pomfrey." Harry defended himself, even as Hedwig began nipping at him over and over. "Ow, Hedwig, I know it was a bad idea. I didn't have a choice."

"Indeed." Madam Pomfrey snorted as she cast a spell at Harry. She worked on Harry, keeping her wand point away from Hedwig who was at odds. The owl was snapping at the pointed wand as much as she was fussing over Harry.

Growling under her breath at the persnickety bird, Madam Pomfrey placed her wand in a side satchel. "You seemed to have recovered, but I want to keep an eye on you for at least another hour before I'll let you go. You've been asleep for longer than you should have, young man"

"Can I have something to eat?" Harry asked, placing a hand to his stomach, which growled at him.

"I'll see about bringing something healthy up for you and Ms. Granger." Poppy nodded as she walked back to her office. She needed to tell Albus that Harry had come to.

Harry had finally had enough and placed Hedwig on her stand next to his bed, having had enough of her picking at him and giving him a firmer bite than normal. Sighing, Harry knew he was going to have to make this up to her. Turning to Hermione, who had a light blush on her face. "How are you feeling Hermione? You weren't hurt, were you?"

Hermione got a frustrated look on her face as she looked down at her feet. "Why?" She asked quietly to him. Harry glanced to Hedwig who had turned her head to not look at him. "Why did you try and help me? You barely even know me."

Harry wasn't sure what he should say to her. That it was the right thing to do? That he would have done it had it been someone else? He wasn't really sure why he did it himself. "Um..." He hemmed as he scratched his head. "Well, you didn't know that the Troll was in the school."

"But why?" Hermione asked as she looked up at Harry, tears in the corner of her eyes. "I'm just another student, a Gryffindor in a house of Gryffindors. Why bother saving someone like me?"

Harry didn't like how she was talking about herself and frowned at her, causing her to flinch from his eyes. "I saved you because your my friend. I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend, and I'm sorry that I didn't know how alone you felt being here. If you don't want to be my friend, I understand, but I'd still like to be yours."

Hermione looked nearly ready to cry, but wiped her eyes with the corner of her robes before she smiled and walked up to Harry, offering him her hand. "I'm Herminone Granger, a first generation witch from Hampshire."

Harry smiled as he took her hand and shook it. "Harry Potter, I think second generation wizard from Surrey. It's a pleasure to meet you."

* * *

Albus sighed as his fire changed from green back to the ruddy reds and yellows of a normal flame. Having just dealt with a more than irate Amelia Bones about unsupported rumors of a Troll being loose inside Hogwarts of all places, she threatened Albus that there would be an investigation with her Top Auror, one Alastor Moody, who was being called out from retirement just for this job.

Minerva came walking in to his office a moment later, refusing to knock as she looked around, then walked up and took a seat in front of Dumbledore. "Did Amelia give you a hard time?"

Dumbledore merely nodded as he pinched at the bridge of his nose. "It would appear as if Ms. Susan Bones is her 'inside man'." Dumbledore murmured as she sat up straighter and looked at Minerva over his pince-nez. "What has Severus found out about the Troll?"

"As far as he can discern, it was confunded to come into the school, thinking that this was its cave." Minerva fiddled with the hem of a dress instead of her robes as she talked to Albus, the black fabric was modest for most people, but made Minerva feel under dressed. "The wounds are consistent with Ms. Granger's accounts that Harry was the one to wound the Troll as gravely as he did. I think he was trying to kill it."

"And the other matter?" Albus felt the ages settling on his shoulders. He didn't like it in the least.

Minerva frowned as she continued. "Someone tried accessing the room during the Troll's capture. They didn't get far and there was evidence of blood." Minerva shook her head as she sighed. "Severus very nearly lost a leg to that mongrel." She locked her eyes with Albus. "You know this was deliberately set up to keep us busier than what we were. The Troll was meant to kill someone at least, so that we would have been tied up long enough for them to breach the wards."

"Then it is our good fortune that Harry showed the courage enough to defend a fellow student." Albus sat up straighter. Finally, something working in to the way they had wanted. "More than enough courage to place him in Gryffindor, wouldn't you say?"

"No, Albus." Minerva glared at the headmaster. "He showed Hufflepuff tendencies when going to find Hermione at risk to his very life. Slytherin qualities to get that house elf to aid him as he had. Ravenclaw for using the Lumos spell and Colloportus to save Ms. Granger from herself. The only reason he faced down a Troll like he did was because it managed to nearly kill her." She dared him to refute what she said.

Conceding the point, he slumped into his chair once again. "He is not making this easy on us, is he?"

"If he did, I would doubt the seriousness of that woman's words." Minerva adjusted her dress with a harsh tug. "She can barely be called a teacher as it is."

"Yes, Minerva, I have listened to you about her inability to teach her chosen profession countless times." Dumbledore waved his hand placatingly at Minerva. "We are going to be having an inspection from someone near the end of the school year, at the behest of our Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement due in part to the Troll. Alastor Moody ring any bells?"

Minerva's jaw snapped shut as she nearly lit into Dumbledore. "If Moody comes here before Harry does what he must, there'll be a bloodbath, Albus. He can't be allowed to enter Hogwarts. If I must, I'll..."

"Calm yourself, Minerva." Albus waved placatingly at her once again as he sat up behind his desk, popping a lemon drop into his mouth. "Fortunately, Alastor is busy teaching recruits as part of a refresher course all retired Aurors before they can be allowed back in the field."

"Alastor's a zealot, Albus." Minerva hissed at him. "He won't stop until he's dead and you know it. He'll risk everyone's life if he finds him here among us."

"Which is time, I think, that we give our young Harry a much needed coaxing to what needs to be done." Albus hhmmm'ed around his lemon drop as he pondered. "I will have to give him James's legacy, I think."

Minerva practically vibrated in her seat. The glare she was giving Albus would have roasted him alive if it had the power. She wanted to say something to him, to do something most violent and destructive to Dumbledore. Sadly, she knew that he would not put Harry's life in danger if he didn't have any other choices.

"Have you thought about how Harry will be able to compete in Quidditch on the Gryffindor's team? His magic seems to be highly destructive to the brooms of the school."

Minerva had to force her jaw to unclench before she could speak. "I've placed a special order in from a shop in Diagon Alley for a special broom to be sent here for Harry. They practically guarantee that it will withstand the force Harry could put on it."

"Will he be able to get it before the first match?" Albus asked, popping a second lemon drop into his mouth as the first had finally dissolved.

"It will be here tomorrow. Although I don't know the specific time, I'll do what I can to make sure Flitwick knows about the brooms arrival so he can keep an eye out for Mr. Potter." Minerva stood from her chair and made to leave before turning back to look at Albus. "If Harry is hurt because of our decisions, Albus, I swear to you that I'll make the last moments of your life the worst a person can make for another."

* * *

Hufflepuff house was abuzz with the news of Harry's fight with a Troll to save Hermione Granger. Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones had made it quite obvious to anyone who would listen that Harry had risked life and limb to save another student. Pomona Sprout, head of Hufflepuff, had neither denied nor promoted the fact that Harry had done just that, only that they should make their own decisions as Puff and believe in each other.

Even one Cedric Diggory, 3rd year Hufflepuff was convinced. He was the rising role model of the Perfect Puff that everyone aspired to be. Didn't hurt hat he was turning into quite the looker as well.

"Do you think Ms. Bones will do anything?" Cedric asked Susan in the common room, a large group of puffs gathered around to listen in to the conversation.

"Knowing Aunt Amelia, she'll be turning this school inside out til she knows all its secrets." Susan frowned darkly. She didn't want the fact that she was related to Amelia Bones, Head of the D.M.L.E. Being found out, but after Harry faced off against a Troll, some things were better out in the open. "Honestly, what kind of defenses does this school have to allow a Troll to come into the castle?"

"It might be worse than you think." Justin Fitch-Fletchly, the curly drown hair of the newest puff uncrossed his arm as he stepped forward. "Every adult witch and wizard knows where Hogwarts is. If someone wanted to get at Harry for taking down You-Know-Who, all they'd have to do is drop it off on the school's front doorstep."

"That's assuming they could get it past Filch." A young and quite scared Megan Jones shivered as she gripped the pillow in her arms tighter. "Man gives me the shivers."

"Your all missing the point." Hannah nearly stood up from her seat on the couch next to Susan, a focused look on her face as her eyes roamed the room. "Whether Harry is the one being targeted or not, he defended someone with everything he had, even getting laid up in Pomfrey's clinic for her. Isn't that what a Puff would do for anyone else?"

Many eyes looked around at one another, some hands clasped shoulders or hugs were past from one person to the next as Cedric smiled and nodded at Hannah. "So, since he's a Puff through and through, how best do we go about showing Harry that he truly is a Puff?"

* * *

"He's awake, was whisked off to Ravenclaw tower the moment he was able to walk." Tracey Davis sat against the baseboard of Pansy's bed. "No one's letting him out of the tower or a Prefect's sight for at least a week, you can about bet on it." She twirled a finger through her near strawberry blonde locks, eying a considering Pansy.

"The Serpent's den has been abuzz since the Troll was announced." Millicent spoke quietly, sitting across from Tracey as she twirled her wand through her fingers with a deft motion."There's a rumor started by a 5th year that He's come back to strike at Potter."

"Fools." Daphne shook her head. "If The Dark Lord had really returned, he'd have sent something a little more dangerous than a Troll. Say, a few Death Eaters for sure, if he didn't just come himself." Daphne snorted at the stupidity of some of the others in Slytherin House. "They've a loyalty to them, but not one brain cell amongst the lot."

"It's loyalty like that that ensures you survive to live another day." Pansy muttered as she glared at nothing and everything, her mind buzzing with possibilities. "People who'd throw themselves willingly into an Avada Kedavra for you are the best types of servants to have when you need a willing sacrifice."

"There can be no doubt about one thing." Millicent said, hinting at what was plainly obvious for all of them.

"Someone from His time is making a power move, possibly to take the place of The Dark Lord." Daphne smirked as the rest of them nodded. "A poor move, but a telling one none the less. It will incite the others to either follow or lead, which means..."

"Which means that we need to bind Potter to us now, or not at all." Tracey smirked at her closest friend, Daphne. Potter is the most willing of followers, a perfect sacrifice."

"No." Pansy cut off their line of talk, getting the attention of the rest of the women. "As of right now, Potter is the greatest prize to be had. We have to make sure that nothing happens to him."

"What?" Tracey asked, shocked. "You want to protect him now? Whatever for?"

Pansy smirked darkly. "Anyone who wants Potter will come for him, expecting a weak target. If they never suspect that Potter is more than he seems, then they are fools who are standing in the way of real power." She saw a glimmer in the girls eyes as they caught on. "Sometimes, for the stronger bloodlines, a culling has to occur to weed out the bad blood."

"You talking about war with the old Purebloods." Millicent spoke the thought on their minds. She didn't know if she was speaking in respect, or as an accusation.

"War is such an ugly word, and there is a time for War when necessary." Pansy stood up, smoothing her nightdress. "We're just doing the rightful Purebloods a favor by getting rid of the stagnant parts of the major families. They'll thank us in the end."

"It means stepping up our lessons." Tracey stood as well, helping Daphne to her feet. The current courses in Hogwarts aren't exactly the most effective when you want to hurt someone."

"That depends." Millicent smirked as her wand twitched into her palm and she cast a cleaning hex at a bug that had crawled into the room from the doorway. The bug peeled away to nothing as it was 'cleaned' from existence. "Given the right context and direction, I think I could manage with what we're being taught."

"Then it's agreed." Pansy smiled to the other women. "We take what we're taught and we learn a 'new use' for it. Who knows? We might even learn a trick or two in the process."

* * *

**Please leave your comments at the Door, You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here**


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